The Maiden's Shield
by Sir Perfluous
Summary: Following the capture of Erusea's capital, the Lighthouse War takes a drastic turn as new threats emerge from the chaos. With the help of some unlikely allies, it now falls to Trigger and his friends to finally end the war and make the skies safe once again. [Part 3 of the Lighthouse War Trilogy]
1. Enemy Of My Enemy

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ace Combat. Fanfic Authors even challenge the true sky.**

**This is it everyone, the third and final act of my Lighthouse War Trilogy. For those who are new here, you'll probably want to read _Persona Non Grata_ and _Triple Threat_ first. For all you other pilots, strap in and get ready for one more sortie with me. If we all stick with Trigger, I know we'll make it through!  
**

* * *

_**Cape Rainy Air Base, Erusea**_  
_**September 28, 2019**_

It had been a little over a week since the capture of Farbanti. What should have been a shining victory for the Osean Federation had quickly devolved into unparalleled chaos which seemingly engulfed the world. From what little we had been able to learn, there had been what some had called a "Cyber Apocalypse" sparked by the actions of Osea and Erusean Radicals. No one knew exactly who had started it, but it was clear that the massive cyber attacks and destruction of telecommunication satellites that followed had plunged the modern world into confusion. Without the free flow of information, no one knew who to trust or what to believe anymore. Not surprisingly, it made waging war difficult so our fighter unit had been forced to sit and wait. That was okay with us. After the losses we had taken in Farbanti, everyone was still feeling the absences of our fallen comrades.

After hitting the gym for a morning workout with Count and Tabloid, I cleaned up and didn't have much else to do before going to breakfast. It was a clear and cool autumn day so I decided to step outside and take a walk. As I rounded the corner of a barracks, I stopped when I heard the sounds of a girl singing. She had a nice voice and while I couldn't quite understand the lyrics of the idle song, it sounded like they were in old Erusean. It was a pleasant and elegant tune with the qualities of an swaying dance. I followed the song until I came across the sight of Princess Rosa sitting on a stone bench by a fenced-in lawn. From this vantage point, it offered a view of the ocean below the ridgeline. Not too far away were some armed guards standing by, allowing Rosa some privacy while outdoors but not too much. After all, she was technically still a prisoner of the Osean forces now. As her dog Prince snuffled curiously around the lawn, I gave the guards a nod and went to join her on the bench.

"It's a pretty song, Your Highness," I offered causing Rosa to stop and turn in surprise. She gave a slightly embarrassed look along with a faint smile.

"Oh... Thomas. I wasn't expecting you'd come out this way."

I shrugged and sat down on the edge of the bench at a respectful distance, "I was just passing by and heard your singing. I thought you had a nice voice so I wanted to listen more."

"Probably more pleasant than any of my recent speeches I'm sure," she sighed wistfully, "I've always loved to sing. Ever since I was a little girl. This song I was singing just now was an old Erusean song my mother taught me long ago."

"Oh?"

She nodded and wrinkled her features slightly, "It's called 'Pensees' and it's about the memories of someone that the singer loved. In this case, it makes me think of both my parents and helps me feel a little bit closer to them, especially in a time like this."

I gave a solemn nod, "I'm sorry... about your parents. I know your father was killed early on in the war."

Rosa grimaced slightly and nodded, "Yes. Perhaps that was the price we had to pay for bringing on this entire war, and the burden I still have to bear to make things right again."

"We're all trying to do that," I reassured her, "And I hope you remember that not all of us Oseans are bad guys either."

"I've started to realize that now," she admitted, "Especially after you saved me from the separatist Radicals back in Farbanti. I never got a chance to thank you properly."

I gave a sheepish shrug and looked out to the ocean which was lit up with the morning sun, "Oh? I uh...you're welcome. Truth be told, I still find it kinda hard to believe that things turned out this way and that I'm here talking to you. Even if you had technically been our enemy at one point, I should probably thank you too."

Rosa gave a curious look and raised an eyebrow, "Oh? How's that?"

I folded my hands together, "Well... let me just put it this way. I heard your words when I was in a very dark and dangerous place and I found your conviction to your cause to be inspiring... so thank you for that."

Rosa smiled gently at that and laughed slightly, "This is a surprise. I didn't think my words had an effect on the infamous pilot that my people called Three Strikes. Fate is strange. Isn't it?"

"Yeah... I guess so," I agreed.

After a pause, Rosa turned to me again, "It's funny, Thomas. I had actually been very curious about you and I wanted to meet you too. Tell me about yourself?"

"Me? I asked in surprise, "Oh... well, I'm a pretty simple guy. I was born and raised in Oured. My Dad was an accountant and my Mom was a nurse. I like country music, action movies, and a good burger and beer. I guess I must sound like some terribly ordinary guy instead of a mythical ace pilot, huh?"

Rosa laughed gently, "That's okay. I can appreciate being... well, ordinary."

I leaned back on the bench with a sigh and looked to the horizon, "I always wanted to be a pilot and joined the Air Force right out of college. My folks were really queasy with the idea, but they came to accept this is what I wanted to do. To be honest... I wish I could call them right now."

"What about other family?" she asked me curiously, "Maybe a wife? Young children?"

I shook my head, "Nah. I've got a lot on my plate as it is right now and... why do you ask?"

"Just curious," she shrugged, "I figured if you did, that might be hard on them when you were sent to a penal unit. When you were accused of killing President Harling?"

I turned in surprise, "Wait. How did you know that?"

"Ah... I had some people looking into you and that whole story made me curious as well," she admitted, "I can't imagine the hell you went through there."

"I try not to think too much about it," I admitted, "But if anything good came of being at the 444th, I got to meet my friends Count, Tabloid, and Avril."

Over the next few minutes, Princess Rosa took her turn and told me about her own friend and classmate whom she spent time with at an experimental air base and testing facility, a girl named Ionela Shilage. I froze and felt chills run down my spine as she revealed that she was friends with the granddaughter of my greatest nemesis in this war. She told me about the tests and experiments that Col. Shilage was being put through to develop AI for Erusea's drone technology and how she feared that the Radicals under a guy named Enrico Moretti were seeking to get hold of it. That just complicated things even further, but right now the Osean Air Force could only deal with one crisis at a time.

When she was done revealing all this to me, I sat quietly with a queasy expression trying to process everything I was learning. Rosa gave an apologetic look, "I'm sorry. I'm sure this must be a lot to take in, and I'm not helping to make it any easier. It does seem selfish of me for having to ask your help in dealing with all this. I can understand if you and your friends would still be angry with me and mistrust me."

After a long silence, I looked to the waters, "What's done is done, Your Highness. We can't change the past or the things we did, but we can change our future. I chose to do whatever it takes to end this war as fast as we can. I can't speak for my fellow Oseans, but if you really want to do the right thing and try to help us, then I'll welcome it."

I offered my hand and Rosa looked at me in surprise before I spoke again, "Well Princess, what do you say?"

She looked at me again before taking my hand and shaking it gently, "Thomas..."

"No need to be so formal Princess. Just call me Tom... or Trigger if you prefer."

She gave a grateful nod, "In that case, I'm Rosa. But my friends call me Cossette."

Before I could say anything more, the moment was broken up as an Osean airman stepped forward and cleared his throat while saluting, "I'm sorry to interrupt Captain. I was told to send word to you. You're being called in for a new mission briefing at HQ. Oh, and they'd like the princess to come along too."

Rosa and I exchanged a curious look and got up off the bench. Whatever was going on, it seemed things had just gotten more interesting.

* * *

**_Erusean Air and Space Administration_**  
**_Experimental Testing Facility_**

Dr. Schroeder stood in one of the facility hangers working at a computer console he had set up. He was busy going over new data from Mihaly's recent flights and saving relevant bits to be used for programming later. It had seemed that even though the Eruseans had been defeated at Farbanti, Mihaly's new flightsuit had been a stunning success. Schroeder couldn't help but smile to himself a little bit as he continued to work. He was pleased with the results and if everything turned out well, he would have a perfected program finally worked out. He wondered about the future and if the Eruseans would even be able to last long enough against the recent Osean onslaught. Perhaps if not them, he could always sell that data to someone else. Perhaps to Osea? Or maybe Yuktobania even?

He stopped a moment and looked away from his computer, only to catch sight of the twilight that was setting in over the region. The hangar doors were open and the cool autumn air was coming in. With it, also came a sort of quiet that Schroeder hadn't quite experienced in a long time. With many of the world's satellites and communication networks down, there was no internet or flow of information. People had been cut off and things had grown quiet again, aside from the rumors. There had been rumors of civil strife bubbling, of riots in some places, and even of former Erusean territories declaring independence across Usea. Of course, Schroeder was not a native Erusean so he didn't much care. Still, he found the quiet and the isolation a little unnerving especially when there was still so much unknown out there.

He began to work again when he head some people enter the hanger, people he did not recognize. He looked up and adjusted his glasses to see a dark haired woman followed by two men. They were all wearing suits and looked to be buttoned up and professional. The woman with a tight bun haistyle led the way and approached him as Schroeder raised an eyebrow, "Can I help you?"

The woman gave a thin smile and a curt nod, "Dr. Schroeder? You are the lead scientist on the drone program here?"

"Yes... what is this about?"

The woman studied him carefully for a moment and remained quiet. In a way, she had a serpentine quality about her, like she was some dangerous snake that was coiled up and ready to strike at any moment. "I am Abigail DuMorne of the Erusean government. I work directly on the staff of Parliament's Majority Leader Enrico Moretti."

Schroeder recognized Moretti as the leader of the Radical Party but that was about it. "I see. How can I help you?"

Abigail remained at attention, "The Erusean government has come to collect you and your research. My orders are to convey you to a new location to meet with Mr. Moretti himself."

"I'm flattered, but there's still some work left to be done." Schroeder sighed getting ready to turn around and dismiss them.

The two men stepped forward menacingly to flank the scientist while they wore grim looks on their faces. They reached into their suit coats and Schroeder heard the audible clicking sounds of firearms being readied. Abigail remained stone faced, "I don't think I made myself clear. You're coming with us now. Gather your things and prepare to depart. We can't keep Mr. Moretti waiting."

"But the programming..." Schroeder protested, "I need a little more time."

"And you'll have it during your flight over," Abigail said bluntly, "Surely you can finish it then."

Schroeder looked to the two burly security guards who continued to quietly menace him, "I think that's... doable."

"Excellent," Abigail said with a satisfied smile, "Oh, and Doctor? One other thing. I'd like you to take on one more little task. The Shilage girls are to come with us as well. I'd like you to help look after them."

Schroeder gave a confused look and stared down Abigail in the purple orange twilight of the hanger. "What about Colonel Shilage?"

"Leave that to us," Abigail said before prompting him again, "Now... about the girls?"

"All right."

The woman gave a curt nod and a small smile as her guards fell back to flank her again, "Good. Gather your things and tie up any loose ends you need to here Doctor. Most importantly, do not keep us waiting."

Schroeder watched them as they walked off to reenter the main facility again. He didn't feel like going on another unexpected business trip, but with things the way there were in the world right now, what choice did he really have?

* * *

_**Cape Rainy Air Base, Erusea**_

When we arrived at HQ, the pilots of the LRSSG had already assembled with some of the other lower ranking officers at the base. At the head of the room, Long Caster stood by a display screen to lead the meeting. Without Major Wiseman around, he was technically the sole commanding officer of our unit now. Although he lacked Wiseman's commanding presence and charismatic voice, all of us pilots who were present still gave respectful deference to him. From the time we had all gotten our wings in flight school, we had been trained to know that when your AWACS controller speaks, you shut up and listen to them.

I took a seat with Count and Huxian while Rosa was given a seat off to the side near the front of the room near Long Caster. Our stocky mustached Major cleared his throat and called the room to order while bringing up his tactical maps, "All right, listen up everybody. As of now, Erusea's communication networks have still been down since their satellites were destroyed. Unfortunately, we're in the same situation. All of Usea has been affected and we don't know when things will be up and running again. Still, we will follow our strategy that was originally planned for after liberating Farbanti."

"Wow. High Command actually had a contingency plan for what to do after this whole mess?" Count muttered sarcastically to us. Huxian simply replied with an elbow to his ribs.

Long Caster shook his head and continued, "Since the war began, we have been receiving communications in secret from a senior officer in the Erusean Army named General Edouard Labarthe. With the capital under our control, Erusea's radical political faction has lost some power and withdrawn to regroup their forces. While they still control large swaths of territory on the mainland, they do not have as much influence on the area known as Tyler Island. Erusean civilian and military elements who are aligned with the Conservative party have gathered there after having been driven out by the Radicals' takeover. We believe this officer will be able to convince the Conservatives there to join us and fight alongside our forces. If we succeed, Tyler Island would be a valuable strategic location to strike at the Lighthouse."

All of us pilots began to murmur quietly and exchange more curious looks at each other before Long Caster spoke again, "Thanks to some help provided from Princess Rosa here, we've been able to locate Labarthe and know the general is currently hiding in the outskirts of Anchorhead Bay. Presently, he's been joined by support dispatched from the Osean Army. Then plan is for them to rendezvous in a harbor at the eastern part of the city where a helicopter will be waiting. Pilots, your job will be to escort that officer from above and keep him safe. Due to the recent losses in battle, the remains of Cyclops will be rolled into Strider Squadron. Be aware that Erusea's intelligence department and the remaining enemy forces there may be aware of General Labarthe's movements and could interfere. We can't afford to squander the advantages that we've won up to now so make sure this operation succeeds."

Jaeger raised a hand and spoke up, "Major, with all due respect but do you actually trust the intel from the princess here? After all, she had been our enemy and she was the one who started this whole war. How do we know she's not leading us into some trap?"

"We can't be a hundred percent certain," Long Caster admitted, "But..."

The princess surprised everyone by standing up and speaking in her own defense. She didn't speak in anger, but her tone was still grave and serious, "Apologies Major. I don't expect any of you to like me, much less trust me right now. The truth is, I have nothing to gain by sabotaging you here. The people in the government and military who claimed to be my allies have turned on me and become terrorists of a sort. I'm going to help you and provide information because I don't want to see any more innocent people lose their life because of Enrico Moretti's ambitions and I'm sure you don't want your people to shed any more blood either."

Her invoking the losses of Wiseman, Skald, and Fencer immediately made the room go quiet until Long Caster waved it off and nodded, "Right. Thank you Princess. Pilots, also take note that our satellite-based IFF has become unreliable so target ID will be done by processing images from the infrared cameras on your aircraft. That means you'll have to close with your targets and get better reads on them. The operation will take place at night and we're going to need you to fly your Flankers one more time so that you will blend in a little more in Erusean territory. Good luck out there."

As we got up and the meeting adjourned, Rosa spoke a little more to Long Caster while I was pulled out of the room by Count and Huxian. They both seemed uncomfortable with the developments as Count grimaced, "I don't know guys. It's bad enough we're already acting on orders outside of mission command. But to be working with the Eruseans too?"

"I know it's not the best situation," I said, "But what other choice do we have?"

"Personally, I still don't trust the princess," Huxian frowned to herself, "Call it woman's intuition."

I gave her a skeptical look, "Really? Come on Lin. I'm sure not all the Eruseans are bloodthirsty warmongers. If we're going to stop this war, we might have to show a little bit of trust here and act in good faith."

"Maybe," Huxian said putting a concerned hand on my shoulder, "But I'm just telling you to be careful Tom. Count tells me you're a little soft on the princess so don't get blinded and lose sight of the mission or the squadron either."

"Wilco," I simply answered.

As she walked off, I turned and looked to Count, "You don't trust Princess Rosa either, huh?"

Count shrugged, "I'm not sure what to think yet. Maybe Rosa's actually on the level, but I'll believe it when I see it. Speaking as your friend though, I do agree a little bit with Lin. Do me a favor and be careful Trigger?"

I was feeling a little annoyed that everyone seemed to be second guessing me, especially because I had offered a friendly hand to the princess. But I couldn't argue that my squadron didn't have a right to be a little suspicious either. My responsibility was to them first and if that was their concern, it was my job to listen to them. I gave a nod to Count, "Yeah. Don't worry. Let's get this next op done and end this war already."

* * *

**A/N:**  
**Just thought I'd put out an early chapter to prime everyone for what's to come. Until then!**


	2. Dangerous Liaisons

_**Skies over Anchorhead Bay, Erusea**_  
_**October 1, 2019 **_

Thick clouds hung over the skies of Anchorhead Bay as Strider Squadron made its approach toward the city. Without the light of the moon, the skies were dark which thankfully allowed our squadron some extra cover. We were we already flying captured Erusean Su-35s that were painted in dark colors and would hopefully camouflage us further in the night skies. As we made our descent and passed under a layer of thick clouds, I could begin to make out the landmarks of the coastal city. From my vantage point, Anchorhead Bay had a small but beautiful skyline. It had many tall office buildings and the bright lights of the city looked inviting as they reflected off the glass of those buildings. Despite my own bias for my home city, the place almost reminded me of Oured at night. While the squadron slowed down, we waited as our radar returns started coming back giving us our tactical data. Unfortunately, many units within the city were marked with a yellow "Unknown" designation. That would not help matters as I was directing the operation from the skies. Without Wiseman, I was the acting wing commander of the LRSSG so there was a lot of pressure riding on this mission's success.

"Geez, are there really that many unknown targets on the radars?" Count groused unhappily, "This is going to be messy."

"Are you the squadron sent to cover us?" came another man's voice over the radio. The signal was coming from below in the city, "Make sure we're marked as a friendly."

I checked the radar code and saw a blue friendly blip emerge from the transponder of a truck below, "Copy that. This is Strider 1 of the 124th Tactical Squadron, LRSSG. Please identify and confirm?"

"I am Captain Karl of the Osean Army," the man said, "We have General Labarthe here and are moving toward our rendezvous point now."

"Roger. We'll keep you covered," I answered as the vehicle began moving across the city's roadways toward the pickup point. As we coasted over the city, Huxian squinted to look in the distance and see fire being exchanged between units on the ground, "Wait... what did we walk into? Are those Erusean forces fighting each other?"

"Erusea is in a state of civil war," Captain Karl reminded her, "Anchorhead Bay is currently a battleground between Radical and Conservative forces so you need to try and stay out of the crossfire."

As the squadron descended and tried to get a better read on some of the forces fighting each other, Count gave a call, "We're sending you targeting data now Long Caster. Hopefully you can make sense of it."

Our controller sounded distracted at his station as he was probably coordinating with other intelligence officers that were present, "Copy that Strider 2. Transmit those new IDs... oh, and uh, hand me that sandwich."

If my wingmates and I could, I'm sure we would have all looked at each other right now, but it was best to just trust our controller's methods. If that was what he needed to focus, then so be it. I gave a wry smile and quipped, "A little midnight snack? It's gonna be one of those nights, huh Major?

I heard Long Caster give a slight snort of amusement before Jaeger gave another call, "Look out Striders! We're being pinged."

Enemy radars must have picked us up as we heard warning sensors go off. Several SAM and AA units on the ground suddenly turned their attention toward us and fired into the skies. We broke formation to avoid the incoming fire and get better scans of them. Lanza voiced what we were all thinking, "Crap! This is not good!"

"Look at it this way," Captain Karl chimed in trying to sound positive, "As long as you're drawing enemy fire away, they aren't paying attention to us."

He was right. Fortunately, some of those positions which were engaging us seemed to not take notice of Labarthe's escort making its escape. It wasn't long before Long Caster radioed back, "New radar returns coming in. Strider Squadron, you are clear to engage hostile targets."

"Better late than never," Jaeger replied as we split up and dove down on the new targets. Our Flankers buzzed the tops of some buildings and strafed several armored vehicles below which were aligned with Radical forces. Hopefully Conservative forces would see that and think we were on their side. As Labarthe's truck continued to speed along the winding roads, we could see several more enemy checkpoints standing in the way. Captain Karl seemed to realize this too and mused, "This is a wide net they've cast. Are those sentries going to ask us to pay a toll too?"

"I'm fresh out of quarters, but I can pay them with something else," Count grinned as he swooped in ahead of the convoy and pummeled several Radical choke-points with some daring missile attacks.

"Huh... we'll there's something," Huxian laughed in amusement as we cruised over the flaming wreckage of the enemy vehicles on the highway. Jaeger seemed a little more concerned as the convoy drove past and continued on its way.

"This feels a little fishy, Trigger. Maybe the enemy's got some intel on our operation? They seem to be set up in all the right places."

"I agree. Just stay sharp Jaeger," I said, "The convoy should be arriving at the rendezvous point soon."

Huxian and Lanza flew ahead and cleared the way of a few more ground targets while I listened to General Labarthe having a conversation with Captain Karl. "Captain, in case something happens tonight, do you have a way of recording this conversation?"

"I promise nothing will happen to us, but I'm sure the boys upstairs have some way of recording it too," Karl said apprehensively.

Labarthe cleared his throat and began to speak as if reciting some speech that he had planned in his head, "This is something that other Useans and even diplomats from Osea need to hear. The start of this entire war, it's open declaration and the expansion of the frontlines was all done by ambitious officers in our military, ones who aligned themselves to the Radical Party. What they didn't know was that they were being steered by an unseen force."

"Who?" Karl asked.

Labarthe answered gravely, "A leading member of the Radicals in Parliament named Enrico Moretti. He's been pulling the strings, along with his cronies in the news media and the big tech companies that are involved in the drone programs, namely Grunder Industries. They are all to blame for this. When the war began, the performance of the drones exceeded expectations and Moretti profited off his financial investments in the drone tech. The Radical-friendly news media pushed it and got public opinion on the side of the drone technology. They even manipulated Princess Rosa and convinced her to support this war."

"And the drones?" Karl prompted curiously.

"Flight data from one of our ace pilots was used to create the drone AI," Labarthe admitted.

My eyes went wide as I started to put the pieces together in my head. That matched up with what Rosa had told me about Mihaly and the experiments he had been helping EASA with. In a sense, all those drones were based off him so every time I had fought them, it was like I was fighting a small piece of Mihaly himself. Labarthe's confessional was already unsettling but this made my stomach drop as he continued on.

"But there was more to their technology. Faking IFF designations was an astonishing feat. They used it to make drones resembling Osean fighters. I strongly believe that was their ploy to surprise Osean forces and even pin the death of Harling on someone else."

Now I knew he was talking about me without even realizing who I was. It had been one thing being exonerated of that crime by the senior officers of Osea's Air Force, but to hear it from a general of the other side was strangely comforting... in a surreal sort of way. At the very least, I was now convinced that I hadn't killed President Harling by any accident of my own.

General Labarthe finished by giving a deep sigh, "I know many in the Erusean Air Force disagree with the idea of UAV drones supplanting them. I only hope they'd be as supportive of us. The use of drones was supposed to make war more palatable for the rest of us, but our delusions of fighting with drones is what got us into this mess. The Radicals still seem to believe that boosting drone production will make up for Erusean losses. They should be taking responsibility for the capital's fall but they're only prolonging this war. That is why proper Conservatives like myself have to try and regain control of this country. If I can broker an alliance between our loyalist forces and Osea's, we might be able to end this bloodshed after all."

Strider Squadron regrouped in the air as an Osean helicopter arrived at the far edge of the bay. Just as planned, Labarthe and Captain Karl arrived at the rendezvous point exactly on time. 'So far so good,' I thought to myself as we circled overhead in a holding pattern. Despite some minor resistance and confusion, this operation had been surprisingly easy. I decided not to jinx our luck and remained silent until I heard Captain Karl on our comms.

"Evac was successful and we're disembarking now. Thanks for watching our backs Striders."

I gave a relieved nod as the chopper took off into the night while the rest of the Erusean forces remained more focused on fighting each other within the city limits, "Acknowledged Captain. Good luck and godspeed."

"Whew. What a relief," Count sighed, "I guess we should get the hell out of here, right?"

"Negative Strider 2. I'm picking up multiple bogeys entering the target area from the north. As long as Labarthe is in this combat zone, we have to keep him safe."

Huxian gave a mild grumble of annoyance, "There's something. The general must be a real celebrity. Seems everyone wants to meet him tonight, huh?"

"Stay focused Lin. We're not done here," I said changing course to meet the incoming bogeys.

Strider Squadron ascended up through the cloud cover and headed north to meet the incoming bogeys. As they approached, we could see a transport plane escorted by a small group of Gripen fighters that looked to be of Erusean design. Another call came in over our radios and it appeared to be transmitted from the transport, "Attention incoming fighters, we are carrying civilians here. We have escort fighters but we do not intend to engage in combat. Please stand down."

"What is going on here?" Huxian asked in confusion but Long Caster answered with a cautious tone in his voice.

"Unknown. Get a closer look but hold your fire."

It was then that we heard a female voice on the other line, maybe a girl or a young woman? "Dr. Schroeder? What's going on?"

"Hold up. There's a girl on board?" Count asked in surprise as Strider Squadron approached to do a flyby.

"That would be the first thing you'd notice, wouldn't it?" Huxian teased Count with the light jab.

I grimaced slightly as we made contact with the convoy. Although it was dark, I was able to make out markings and a logo identifying the craft as being part of EASA. That was odd, but we were not given permission to engage either. "Well, at least they're not lying about carrying civilians."

What caught me off guard was when I heard another girl's voice speak up. She sounded like she might have been younger and she spoke with excitement, "Hey look! That's him! That's the aircraft my grandfather told me about! The one with the three lines!"

Before I could ask any more question or even try to figure out what was going on, we picked up several more radar contacts. It looked to be a flight of new Erusean Flankers approaching fast. As they neared, their lead plane radioed us, "Unknown Erusean squadron, disengage from the transport convoy immediately."

I decided to play along, "Requesting confirmation of orders. What's going on here?"

The lead plane of the new flight answered me tersely, "The transport plane with the EASA transponder. It's under control of the Radicals. That is one of the planes with the traitors on board."

All of a sudden, the transport and its escorts took evasive actions as they came under radar locks from the new fighters. Count gave a startled gasp and looked around at the chaos unfolding, "Whoah! What the hell is going on here? Long Caster, permission to engage?"

"No! Hold your fire Striders!" Long Caster answered urgently, "Those fighters look like they may be allied to the Conservative faction and..."

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as the bogeys fired some missiles at the convoy which were then scattered by a bunch of flares from the transport. Strider Squadron broke off and retreated to a safe distance as we stopped to watch the fireworks erupting before our eyes.

Aboard the transport plane, Abigail DuMorne cast a stern look to the Shilage girls and snapped, "Silence. This is not the time."

She turned to Schroeder and spoke in a calmer but tense voice, "Doctor, we cannot allow those Conservatives to stop us here. I need you to use our drone escorts."

"These are newer models," Schroeder protested, "You forced us to leave so soon that I can't be sure their programming is completely debugged yet."

DuMorne snarled, "We don't have time for this Doctor. I don't care what it takes. Activate the drones while I tell our pilot to get us out of here."

Schroeder sighed and gave in to the demands as he opened the drone program on his laptop titled "Z.O.E. v2.0" He could only pray that this worked.

All of a sudden, the program activated and the Gripen escorts broke off to engage the new Flankers who were threatening the EASA transport. To our shock, the rest of us in Strider Squadron watched with mouths hanging open as the Gripens fired missiles at the Conservative aligned Flankers and succeeded in shooting one down. Strider Squadron continued to fly in formation and stay off to the periphery as a fierce aerial melee erupted between the Gripen escorts and the Conservative Flankers. Now they were shooting at each other all of a sudden and we didn't know who was on who's side. After a few tense minutes of dogfighting, the Gripens scored two more kills and forced the Conservative Flankers to break off and retreat from the airspace.

"Huh... I have to say, for once it's nice not being involved in one of those kind of fights," Lanza said to us. I almost wished he had kept his mouth closed as we all heard target lock warnings start to blare on our own consoles. Were the Gripens turning and looking to shoot us down too? Jaeger gave an irritated growl to his wingmate.

"Damn it Lanza, you just had to say it, didn't you?"

Long Caster was already interjecting in loud outrage, "What the hell? You've got to be kidding me! Liaison escorts have radar locks? They're targeting you! Escort Liaison, this is AWACS Long Caster, do not engage the fighters designated as Striders!"

The warning sirens continued to escalate until we heard the new dreaded warning drone of _"Missile! Missile! Missile!"_

"Strider Squadron, break formation! Evasive maneuvers!" I shouted to my people as we all quickly peeled off and rolled clear of the incoming missile volley.

On board the transport, Dr. Schroeder's eyes went wide and he began to gasp frantically as he tried to control the drone escorts, "Wait... no. The escort fighters' drives... they're missing the coding drive..."

Ionela who was sitting nearby comforting her terrified little sister called out, "Doctor! What's going on? Do something!"

Schroeder threw his hands up at the hopeless situation devolving in front of him on his laptop before he opened a comm channel, "Can you hear me on this channel pilots? These escort fighters are experimental drones with new AI subroutines. I... I can't control them anymore! They're operating autonomously and acting on their own volition!"

"What?" Huxian shrieked as she shook off a missile that was tailing her.

Long Caster gave a growl of frustration and called out to all of us, "We have no choice. Strider Squadron, you are cleared to engage and destroy the escorts!"

"Understood Control," I answered as I maneuvered to attack, "Striders, form up on me and prepare to counterattack!"

"Righto," Count answered as he took his place alongside my wing, "Kinda makes you wonder who would create such drones. They'd have to be the king of all dumbasses, huh?"

Schroeder winced as he cut off the channel. Count had stung his pride a little with that insult, but it was justified. All he could do was watch as this strange group of Su-35s took on the drone Gripens. Our squadron roared ahead and clashed with the enemy above the thick cloud banks below which acted as a second horizon. I pulled a hard banking turn and rolled free from a drone before looping around another. They were fast and had some good moves, but they were sloppy. Compared to Mihaly and the drone I had dueled in Bulgurdarest, these guys were manageable.

"Just like Waiapolo, eh?" Count laughed to me as he angled in and sprayed some gunfire at an enemy. "Huxian?"

"On it!" she answered as she followed his mark and cut off the drone at the next turn. She let loose a missile and downed the fighter with a clean shot.

"Good kill Strider 4," Jaeger called as he tried to avoid a Gripen that had locked on to him, "Now if I can get a little help over here?"

I dove into the clouds and accelerated to intercept, "Hang on Strider 3. I've got you."

Jaeger wove and juked to try and shake his pursuer, "Strider 1? Trigger? Where are you? I can't see you!"

At the last minute, I ascended from the cloud bank and caught the pursuing Gripen with a direct missile hit from below. The drone was hit on its underside and reeled before exploding into a million pieces of fire and shrapnel. Jaeger sighed in relief, "Whew! Thanks Trigger. Looks like I'll get to tell my son another story."

"One to go," Long Caster reminded us as we all swept around to look around for the last bandit.

Lanza gave a call as he was already chasing it and harrying it with gunfire, "Found him! I've got a bead on the bandit!"

"What do you say we box him in?" Huxian suggested as Count and I moved to cut off the enemy. We veered close to the drone and criss-crossed our flight paths before rolling clear.

The abrupt maneuver forced the drone to swerve sharply to the right allowing Lanza a cleaner shot as his targeting brackets went red, "Strider 5, Fox 2!"

The missile hit the drone's rear stabilizer causing the Gripen to sputter in the air for a moment and then erupt into a fireball from a delayed explosion. As the last of the drone fighters exploded and rained down from the skies, Strider Squadron regrouped and gathered around me. Lanza leaned back in his seat, "That's the last of em boss. I still don't know what's going on here or who's on what side."

"I agree," Jaeger chimed in, "But what I do know is that the EASA transport has left the target area and so has Labarthe. I think our work here is done."

I turned my aircraft northward, "Jaeger is right. Let's get out of here before we get caught in any more crossfires. We did our job and Labarthe is safe. Time to head back to base."

"I've never been more happy to hear that," Huxian sighed in relief, "Wilco!"

As we roared away from Anchorhead Bay, we were relieved and heartened by the success of this mission. We had hoped that with it, we would ensure a negotiated truce between the forces of Osea and the Erusean Conservatives, along with a speedier end to the war. However, the events that transpired afterward were beyond any of our control and upon returning to base, we would learn with heavy hearts that our hopes of peace would not yet be achieved today.


	3. Contingency Plans

**_Cape Rainy Air Base, Erusea_**  
**_October 2, 2019_**

Early that morning, Avril and Tabloid made their way to the base's messhall to get some food. It was 2:30 in the morning and few people were up and about on the late night shift. Thankfully, they could enjoy some relative peace and quiet. As they opened the main doors and entered the cafeteria area, they saw some of the base personnel off at a couple corner tables while a new figure sat alone at another large table. To their surprise, they saw that it was Princess Rosa sitting by herself with a cup of coffee and a book. She had dressed down to some spare clothes she had been given: a warm winter night shirt and pants which was issued to all Osean soldiers. Even more surprising, her normally done-up blonde hair was worn loose and casual. It was a bit usual seeing the princess looking that way and viewing her as more of a normal civilian in this situation.

Avril tapped Tabloid on the arm and led him over toward the younger girl who was busy reading her book, "Late night Your Highness? I thought people like you needed your beauty sleep."

Rosa glanced up in surprise at the new visitors, "Oh? I'm sorry. I uh... couldn't sleep. I know Strider Squadron was flying an important mission tonight and I wanted to wait up for Captain Richter until he came back."

Avril gave Tabloid a sly sidelong glance before sitting down beside Rosa, "Ah. You're waiting for Trigger, huh?"

"Well... yes," Rosa admitted sheepishly, "He's the only person I really know around here and I guess the closest thing I can call a friendly face."

Avril put a friendly hand on her shoulder, "Well you're in luck Princess. We're actually doing the same thing tonight. We wanted to make sure our friends all came back safely too."

"Oh... right! I remember you now. You're Tom's friends, aren't you?"

Avril nodded, "Yeah. The name's Avril and this is Steven. But around here, we also go by our nicknames Scrap Queen and Tabloid."

"A pleasure Your Highness," Tabloid smiled politely, "Let me get some coffee and pie for all of us from the commissary. I'll let the Queen and the Princess hold royal court right now."

As he walked off to get food, Rosa laughed gently while Avril shook her head and rolled her eyes, "Don't mind him. He can be kind of a dumbass sometimes, but a lovable one."

"Tom told me you had an odd form of endearment," Rosa smiled, "He said you're often calling him and his wingman Eugene that too."

Avril smiled, "They know it's all in good fun. We had to learn to live with each other to get through our time in the 444th. Speaking of... it's strange, because while I was there in the penal unit, I often heard your speeches being broadcast too."

"Really?"

Avril leaned casually on the table, "Yeah. Who'd have thought we would have all run into each other here. Small universe, right?"

"Smaller than I thought," Rosa admitted feeling a slight pang of homesickness. While she had been treated fairly well as a diplomatic prisoner here, she still felt a little out of place and she missed her home.

Avril picked up on it and gave a comforting smile, "Hey... I know you must be a little worried about lots of stuff right now, but the people around here aren't too bad. We'll be your friends... plus it'll be nice to have another girl around here to talk to."

"Thank you," Rosa said gratefully, "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but based on what Tom told me, I'm a little surprised. I didn't expect you would be this friendly and welcoming."

Avril lowered her voice and said with a wink, "Oh... well, between you and me, if you're a girl who hangs out with a bunch of military guys all day, you have pretend to be kinda tough and mean sometimes. I just like to keep up appearances."

By the time Tabloid arrived with some coffee mugs and pie, they were surprised when I entered the room with Count and Huxian in tow. We had arrived a short time ago and were still wearing our full flightsuits. Avril and Tabloid grinned and immediately came over to greet us with hugs and handshakes. Tabloid clapped my shoulder and walked me to the table, "Damn. You look completely beat Trigger. Everything go okay out there?"

I began to pull off my gloves and gave a tired smile, "Yeah. The mission was a success. We got Labarthe to safety and we didn't lose any pilots out there either."

"Oh it got a little hairy out there for a while," Huxian admitted as Avril handed her a mug of coffee, "We were caught in a couple cross-fires between the Erusean forces. With all the chaos and our targeting network down, it's a mess trying to figure out who's on who's side."

I was surprised when I saw a very dressed-down Rosa come over and grasp my forearms excitedly. She wore a bright smile and a look of relief, "The important thing is you're all safe and everything worked out! I'm so happy to hear that!"

"Cossette? I... didn't know you were staying up to wait for us," I said in surprise.

"Don't worry Trigger. We were here to keep the princess company," Avril winked over toward me before Count stepped in and offered to shake Rosa's hand in a semi-dramatic fashion.

"Your Highness. I'm sorry I haven't been properly introduced to you yet. I am Lt. Eugene Morris, but I also go by the name, Count."

"Count? Do you have a heredity title?" Rosa asked in mild surprise while shaking his hand.

"Well... no. But I was hoping you could help me with that," he said, "When this war is over, I was hoping you could reward us for being heroes. Maybe grant a knighthood and some land somewhere?"

Rosa looked a little bemused, "Err, sorry. I'm not sure I can grant knighthood to non-Eruseans."

"Sir Eugene?" Huxian cut in while elbowing Count, "Not the most awe-inspiring name, right?"

He huffed, "Don't be a dumbass Lin. I was thinking Sir Count could be kind of cool instead. What do you say?"

Lin and I exchanged a bemused look before she sighed, "Sir Count? That's even more stupid sounding!"

I shook my head as the two began to bicker off to the side like an old married couple before I turned back to Rosa and took her hands, "Cossette. Thank you. I'm glad you're here tonight. I..."

I was cut off when we all saw Long Caster quickly walk into the messhall waving a piece of paper in his hand. He wore a grim expression on his face and we knew whatever it was, he meant business. Those of us who were pilots straightened up to a semblance of attention as he approached and waved off any kind of formality, "Strider Squadron... we've got a BIG problem here."

My wingmates and I exchanged looked of confusion and dread before Count dared to ask, "What's the problem, Major? Is it something we did?"

Long Caster shook his head, "No. In fact, this has nothing to do with what your squadron did but it still affects all of us."

"I'm sorry sir... I don't understand," I prompted, "What's going on? What happened?"

Long Caster handed me the paper with a dark look on his face, "It's about General Labarthe. He's dead."

Huxian's eyes went wide and she sputtered, "What? How is that even possible? We saw him away from the combat zone!"

Long Caster raised a hand to quiet her and pointed to the paper I was holding, "I just got some new updates in our intel and dispatches from regional allies. Some time after the transport left Anchorhead Bay, it was intercepted by another squadron of Osean fighters who were operating in a nearby area."

"Another Osean squadron?" I exclaimed in horror.

"Because of the communication blackout, that particular fighter unit did not get our full notification of the operation. They were fed bad information up the chain and they were led to believe that the transport was compromised by some traitor or Erusean spies. They shot down the transport killing Labarthe and Captain Karl. It was all a terrible accident."

Everyone's hearts skipped a few beats as our jaws hit the floor in silence. Count blinked a few times trying to process this shocking turn of events, "So... what's going to happen now? Is the C.O. of that unit going to be strung up on charges or something?"

Long Caster grimaced, "I don't know Eugene. Unless he tries to off himself first, the other senior commanders are trying to figure out what to do with him. I'm just delivering the news. I'm sorry, pilots."

Tabloid handed him a slice of pie and saw him off leaving the rest of us sitting in stunned silence. Finally, the long pause was broken up as I slammed my hand down on a table in anger. The utensils and cups of coffee rattled a little as the rest of my friends jumped with a start at my sudden outburst, "Damn it!"

Avril remained calm and spoke evenly, "Tom? Hey. I know you're upset but..."

"You're damn right I'm upset!" I fumed as I threw my gloves across the room, "This whole fuckup never had to happen! And even when it did, it was all for nothing!"

I turned away from the table as Rosa sat in startled silence along with the others in the wake of my angry tirade, "We wasted our time and resources tonight! The pilots of my squadron risked their necks for nothing! But the worst part is, the rest of the Osean forces could have prevented this whole thing. Labarthe died and there was nothing Strider Squadron could even do about it! Our chance to negotiate an alliance went up in flames... literally!"

I stormed away from the messhall in a blind rage while Count and Huxian followed close behind. Rosa moved to get up but Avril restrained her gently by the shoulder and shook her head quietly. The princess grimaced to herself and tried to figure out what to do next as she sat listening to the dejected silence which now filled the base's messhall.

* * *

**_Gunther Bay, Selatapura City_**

The next morning, the EASA transport arrived in the seaside city in southern Usea which was located near the International Space Elevator. Compared to most other cities, Selatapura had been granted a great amount of capital investment after the wars so that it could be rebuilt into one of Usea's most modern cities. As it was located next to the Lighthouse and connected via an underground tunnel in the bay, it was expected that such a city should be worthy to accommodate such a colossal feat of human engineering. After touching down in the city's airport, the group from EASA was shuttled downtown to one of the tall glass office buildings in the commercial district. Ms. DuMorne and her guards escorted Schroeder and the Shilage girls into an elevator and up to an office overlooking the beautiful bay area.

Inside the office, they were greeted by Enrico Moretti who sat waiting at his wide desk with a tumbler of liquor in his hand. He smiled when he saw them and welcomed them in as the bodyguards closed the door behind them. "Ah. There you are. Come in, come in. Dr. Schroeder, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. And you must be the Shilage girls? I have to say... you both are enchanting creatures."

Ionela wrinkled her nose and stood her ground while holding Alma's hand protectively. She remained silent and defiant until Schroeder stepped forward, "You called me here Mr. Moretti? Your associate was rather... insistent."

"My apologies," Moretti said gesturing to the bottle of whiskey on his desk, "Would you care for some, Doctor?"

Schroeder shook his head quietly as Moretti got up from his chair to pace around, "I called you here because I think it's time we get to the last major step in the drone program. I understand you have been refining the flight data collected from Col. Shilage?"

"I have," Schroeder said carefully, "But I still have a few more bugs to work out. Why are you in such a rush?"

Moretti gestured to the bay, "Why am I in a rush? You can't have been living under rock this whole time Doctor. Surely you know there is a terrible war going on out there and this technology will be critical in ending it."

"I assume you want to utilize it among your Radical forces to fight off the Conservatives and the Oseans?" Schroeder surmised, "You realize that while I am the chief researcher of this program, I don't have the authority to..."

"Oh, I believe you have more than enough authority," Moretti insisted, "Look around Doctor. With the worldwide blackout, you don't have any more connection to your corporate headquarters. You have the power to dictate terms all on your own with your technology and I'm willing to offer you a more than generous price for it."

"Because you want more power?"

"Who doesn't? Moretti laughed, "I've invested quite a bit into your company already. Just think, Grunder Industries could finally redeem itself from the disgrace it suffered from its actions in the Belkan War."

It was true that Grunder Industries had helped commit great atrocities with its technology until Belka was finally defeated and the nation was brought to near ruin. At Osea's demand, Grunder had been restructured and heavily regulated with an order forbidding it to ever conduct nuclear tests or weapons development again. Instead, one of its corporate branches had begun to experiment with autonomous drone technology and its possible commercial application to the aviation industry. What no one had realized was just how much the warmongering Radicals of Erusea twisted that technology and turned its uses toward warfare instead.

"I'm not here to debate the corporate ethics of Grunder's drone technology with you," Schroeder said, "You've twisted our research enough for your own ends."

"True. But you are still complicit," Moretti argued, "Grunder has given us the tools we need to remake the world. At the very least, let me try to prove that we can make a good new one."

"What are you talking about?" Schroeder demanded.

Moretti gestured to the distant Lighthouse in the bay, "Right now there are drone production facilities hidden all over Usea which are prepared to mass produce a new model of advanced drone fighters. All they need is a signal to be broadcast from the tallest structure on the planet. With your perfected coding, our drone air force will be nigh unstoppable. Erusea will finally have the means to lay claim over Usea and bring the great powers of Osea and Yuktobania to heel."

"This is mad," Schroeder muttered as he felt fear and dread grip his heart, "Is this what the end of the world will look like?

"No Doctor," Moretti smiled toasting with his tumbler, "This is what ambition looks like and I'll have you to thank for it."

* * *

**_Erusean Air and Space Administration_**  
**_Experimental Testing Facility_**

Elsewhere, Colonel Mihaly Shilage sat in his sparse quarters of the facility. He had his hands folded and he sat silently in a chair facing the window. His eyes were fixated on the blue skies above and it helped to ease the chaotic tempest that was his mind right now. He had escaped the battle in Farbanti and while he had struck a grave blow to the LRSSG, he had been driven from the battlefield yet again. He had tangled with the Osean ace known as Three Strikes and Mihaly was sure he had inflicted a mental blow on his rival. Granted, the forced retreat was out of his hands due to the worldwide cyber attack but he wondered when his next engagement with his foe would be. The rest of Sol Squadron had been defeated and while they survived, it would be some time before they could be reequipped with new fighter planes. Most importantly, Mihaly's thoughts were with his two granddaughters.

His fists clenched as he remembered being approached by Abigail DuMorne and her guards. She had demanded that he hand over his granddaughters so that they could be conveyed with Dr. Schroeder to the International Space Elevator. He was sure that the Radical leader Enrico Moretti had some kind of business with Schroeder, but the Shilages were to be kept as some added insurance. Mihaly had never cared much for the politics of Erusea and didn't care much even now as the kingdom had broken apart at the seams with a civil war that was raging. Still, he had been roped into the fight against his will. Ms. DuMorne had told him at gunpoint that Ionela and Alma would be kept safe as long as Mihaly agreed to continue fighting against the invading Oseans. The one task that Moretti assigned him aligned perfectly with Mihaly's own goal. He was told to eliminate the Osean ace known as Three Strikes. Once that task was finished, his granddaughters would be returned to him and he would be free to go.

The jaw of the old Erusean pilot tightened as he felt another weight settle in over his heart. How could he have been so blind? All this time, Erusea was changing around him and he ignored all of it at the expense of his selfish goal to keep flying. He had abdicated parts of his responsibility to himself, his country and now his granddaughters as they were caught up in this conflict he could no longer run from. The girls had been so confused when he told them they had to leave on that transport and he hoped that they would be able to forgive him should they ever learn of the deal he had made with the devil. That guilt continued to gnaw at his heart as he silently resolved to carry out his final task. He would meet Three Strikes one more time and that would be the end of the war, either for the Osean, or for him.

He heard a knock at the door before it opened slightly. He kept his back to the doorway and heard his wingman Wit speak hesitantly from the doorway, Colonel. We've received word that the transport has landed safely in Selatapura."

"Thank you Wit. And your new fighters?"

"On the way. They should be delivered within a week or so," the pilot of Sol 2 replied, "Will that be all, sir?"

Mihaly nodded solemnly without turning around. In a slow voice, he answered, "Yes. Leave me now. I still have a lot of thinking to do."

* * *

**_Cape Rainy Air Base, Erusea_**

The following morning, I woke up bleary eyed and still recovering from the roller coaster of emotions that had been the prior night's mission and surprise debriefing. It was late morning and I had already missed breakfast, but that was okay. I wasn't feeling particularly hungry and I had the next day and a half off to rest and recover from the mission. I was still feeling troubled and stressed about what was to be done, but there really wasn't anything I could do and that was the most frustrating part. I wondered if Wiseman often felt the same way too now that I had inherited his duty as the LRSSG's wing commander. Tabloid had already left for the morning so I shaved and dressed before I found a post-it note on the mirror telling me to report to Long Caster's office when I was available. I threw on my warm flight jacket and headed out of the barracks into the brisk autumn air.

After a short walk across the base grounds, I came to the HQ building where Long Caster had an office and I was surprised to find Huxian and Avril sitting outside on a bench playing with Rosa's dog, Prince. For the time being, it appeared the girls were looking after him which meant the princess must have been somewhere around. As I neared, Avril looked up and tried to put a smile on my face by making me laugh. "Hey Trigger. Check this out."

She held up the dog's paws and spoke in a faux menacing voice, "Fear me for I am Dog of Erusea! Burn Osea to the ground!"

In spite of myself, I couldn't help but snort and chuckle a little bit at such an absurd display. Huxian gave a warm smile and spoke up, "Hey Tom. Feeling a little better today?"

"A little," I admitted, "What are you two doing out here?"

"Keeping an eye on doggo over here," Avril said petting the canine, "Princess Rosa is inside talking with Long Caster about something and she asked us to dogsit for a little while."

I frowned in slight confusion wondering what this was all about before heading toward the building, "Huh. I'm heading in for a meeting as well so I guess I'll get in line. See you two later."

I entered HQ and made my way toward Long Caster's office. Once there, I gave a knock at the door and was surprised when I found Rosa sitting inside on a chair speaking to the Major at his desk. Long Caster waved me in and had me close the door, "Oh, Trigger. There you are. I'm glad you could make it. I was wanting to speak with you about something."

"Okay..." I said hesitantly as I sat down in the second chair next to Rosa, "What's going on, sir?"

Long Caster folded his hands, "First off, I wanted to let you know that the LRSSG will be getting some new aircraft soon. It'll be a step up from what you're normally flying but it'll take a little time for them to be shipped in."

"Better aircraft? That sounds good," I said carefully, "What's the bad news?"

"You and the Striders might be stuck here on standby while we launch a new type of operation... a diplomatic one if you will."

I blinked in confusion, "I don't quite follow Major."

Rosa cleared her throat, "With the death of General Labarthe, we will be hard pressed to broker an alliance with the Conservative Eruseans who currently occupy Tyler Island. I gave it some thought last night and I've come up with another candidate who might be able to do that job."

I sat up in my chair curiously, "Really? Who?"

Rosa looked me right in the eyes and said with a determined voice, "Me."


	4. Good Intentions

_**Cape Rainy Air Base, Erusea**_  
_**October 9, 2019**_

It had been several days since the botched operation around Anchorhead Bay and news of the fallout was still trickling down to us in little bits. I had heard some AWACS by the name of Argus had been grilled on the hotseat by some senior officers of the regional command along with the commanding officer of the offending fighter squadron. Long Caster had seemed a little bothered by the news when last I spoke to him as Argus had been a colleague of his in air control school. If the information they were working with was faulty, I doubted they could really take too much blame as the fault really lay with the intelligence officers not doing their jobs. Honestly, I didn't really care that much at the moment. On that particular day, my mind was elsewhere as I walked out toward the airfield with Count.

"Trigger? Hey... anyone home?" he asked as he waved a hand in front of my face, "Were you just listening to me right now?"

"Oh. Err... sorry Count. I was spacing out a little just now," I apologized.

He stretched out as we walked and gave a shrug, "Well I can't really blame you. You must be looking forward to seeing our new toys, huh?"

Long Caster had told me that Strider Squadron was being equipped with new fighter planes and the shipment came in overnight. The F-15s and the Su-35s we had been using had been through a lot of wear and tear during the LRSSG's campaign. One of the senior regional commanders had taken notice and requisitioned new aircraft for our unit given our vital role in dealing with the chaotic skirmishes across Usea right now. Count rubbed his hands together, "I wonder what kind of planes they are. You think they'd give us any experimental aircraft? I heard talk that some of the Belkan eggheads in Osea's employ had been testing out the new Wyvern fighter. That would be awesome, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah... I guess so," I shrugged half-heartedly.

Count sighed and clapped my shoulder, "Hey come on Trigger. I know you're dwelling on this thing going on at Tyler Island and I know you're worried about our friends. Trust me, I'm worried about them too."

Our senior commanders had reached out and made radio contact with the Conservative Eruseans who now occupied Tyler Island. It seemed that they had negotiated and were open to a meeting with some of our people about dealing with the Radicals who still occupied the mainland. After the death of General Labarthe, the Conservative leaders on the island were still suspicious of us but consented when they learned we were holding Princess Rosa captive. They agreed to hear her out along with some of our other representatives which was encouraging news. Still, I had reservations about Rosa risking herself in such a meeting when she had proposed it to Long Caster and I. She had seemed adamant in her decision saying that we had risked enough already and it was her turn to share in the burden of making things right. It was a small comfort to learn that she'd be accompanied by Avril and Tabloid who volunteered to look after her. The bad part was, I now felt added concern for those other two as well.

"You have to hand it to the princess," Count mused thoughtfully, "It's pretty admirable she wants to try and do the right thing, especially by taking such a gutsy move."

"There's a fine line between courage and stupidity," I pointed out but Count winked and elbowed me, "Ah. Sounds like a certain fighter pilot I know. I'm sure you'd know all about that mindset."

I gave a defeated sigh knowing that I couldn't argue with him there before we finally came to one of the base's larger hangers. Standing by the main doors was Long Caster joined by the rest of the pilots in Strider Squadron. Count I gave a salute to Long Caster while the rest of the unit greeted me with one too. "Major. Reporting as ordered."

Our stout controller gave a nod and waved us toward an opening in the hanger doors. "Good to see all of you. I know things have been a little rough on you guys lately so I've got something that'll hopefully cheer you up. Regional Command has taken notice of the LRSSG's actions and decided to reward you with some fresh new aircraft that just came in overnight."

Long Caster walked us inside the hangers and gestured to the new fighter planes which sat lined up and ready for use. All of stopped and stared with a mixture of surprise, excitement, and anticipation as we saw our old F-15s had been replaced with a fleet of F-22A Raptors. The sleek fighters were among the most advanced and high end aircraft in the Osean Air Force and most pilots would have been chomping at the bit to be able to fly one.

"Whoah! I must be dreaming!" Huxian exclaimed looking like a little girl on Christmas morning, "Somebody pinch me."

Count obliged and gave her a playful little pinch in the cheek earning him a slap back to his arm. I ignored the two and stepped forward to admire the lead Raptor which had been given some special treatment. Like my other fighters, this Raptor had artwork on the tail fins bearing a talon with three lines tearing across the hull. For a moment, I couldn't help but give a wide childlike grin as well. "Wow! These are great Long Caster! Thanks!"

He graced us with a small smile in return and nodded, "Don't thank me. You guys earned it. If the LRSSG is going to carry on as an elite tactical fighter wing, then it's only right that you're equipped like one."

"Something tells me that there's a catch here," Jaeger pointed out, "As in better aircraft, more dangerous assignments?"

Long Caster shrugged, "The only easy day is yesterday. But for the time being, why don't you get acquainted with your new aircraft? We'll have another meeting later today at 1500 hours to go over any new updates that come in from the frontlines."

We had all expected that meeting later, but none of us quite expected the nature of that briefing would become a very different one.

* * *

**_Tyler Island, Usea_**

Meanwhile, the Osean delegation along with Princess Rosa arrived in the small airport at Tyler Island. The Erusean fighter escorts who had guided the small transport in had peeled off and returned to their patrol routes the skies around the island. The Conservative refugees of the Erusean military and civilians had managed to fortify the island in a relatively short time, but it was still a bit haphazard and improvised. They had been chased away from their homes by the Radicals and they were paranoid that that enemy would try to pursue them further and deny another safe haven.

After disembarking from the transport, Princess Rosa and the Osean delegation were escorted to a van and driven to another section of the island. Despite its relative size, Tyler Island had been a busy place with a small Osean air base, some residential housing, as well as shipping and research facilities that were dedicated to the development of the space elevator. At the outset of the Lighthouse War, the IUN forces had been forced to withdraw from the overwhelming threat of the Arsenal Bird. Although the reach of the Radicals' air defense network had significantly shrunk, the new occupants of the island didn't want to take any chances, especially with the cyber blackout.

As they piled into the vehicle, Rosa's dog Prince hopped inside the van and sat obediently by his master in the corner. Avril sighed and gave Rosa a questioning look, "Was it really necessary to bring the dog along, Your Highness?"

"Maybe not, but I couldn't trust anyone to take care of him properly while I was gone," she answered while petting his head, "He's like family to me and besides, he's very well trained. I promise he won't cause any trouble."

Tabloid shrugged and muttered quietly to Avril, "The princess might be right. That dog sits so still and quiet, from this angle you'd almost think he's a cardboard cutout."

As they drove along some of the green rolling hills of the island, Rosa looked out the windows and observed the landscape before musing aloud, "There are some housing complexes built here?"

The Erusean liaison glanced over and nodded, "Yes. Those are the temporary homes of the researchers and their families who were working on the space elevator before the war."

"But these homes look a little empty and cleared out," Rosa pointed out in confusion.

The Erusean officer shifted slightly in his seat, "They're being... repurposed for the new refugees among us."

Tabloid raised an eyebrow, "What about the original families? Did they flee with the IUN forces?"

Their Erusean guide shook his head, "No. They've been relocated to a central area on the island. We've determined that many of them might pose a danger here."

"And why's that?" Avril asked, "They're a bunch of civilians."

"Many of the scientists we picked up here were Belkans... the same Belkans whose technology helped the Radicals start this whole mess," the guide replied venomously.

"So you're putting them in a concentration camp?" Tabloid asked feeling his stomach drop, "Just treating them like animals?"

"As far as I'm concerned, we're giving them more than those animals deserve," the officer answered.

The threat of these prejudiced Eruseans filled Tabloid's heart with dread as he suddenly found himself in the middle of a lion's den. Although he could not dare reveal his own Belkan heritage here, he couldn't help but feel some sympathy for those innocent people being mistreated here. They had nothing to do with the atrocities that were committed decades ago. Tabloid had never condoned the actions of the Belkan government during the Belkan War and it pained him that the racial stigma still endured even here on the Usean continent. Many Oseans back home felt it was difficult enough trusting Belkans. How much more people from other countries who had been affected?

A long silence settled in the van as they drove a short ways to the makeshift administrative center in the middle of Tyler Island where the Conservative leaders had set up their base of operations. The housing structures were located in a central area of the island insulating it from the shipping ports and the defense installations that had been set up around the periphery of the island. Right now, it looked like a small fortified village with Erusean soldiers and civilians everywhere. The group was escorted to one of the makeshift administrative buildings and led to a conference room where a few Erusean officials waited. Two of them seemed to be high ranking military officers while the other were civilian leaders who had served in the Parliament.

One of the female politicians gave a curious look to the Osean delegation and smirked, "Princess Rosa Cossette D'Elise... this is a surprise. Many of us weren't sure you had survived the invasion of Farbanti."

"Oh I'm very much alive," Rosa said evenly, "And I've come to try and negotiate a truce today."

One of the military officers, an Erusean army colonel leaned back in his seat, "You'll forgive us for being skeptical Princess, but you had been our political opponent in the past and you come now with escorts from the Osean Federation?"

Rosa looked to Avril and Tabloid a moment before nodding slowly, "Yes. I admit, it does look a bit unusual. But you'll have to agree that these are unusual times. I've taken a risk by just coming here and putting myself at your mercy. I admit that I was wrong about the war. I had been misled by Mr. Moretti and now I want to make things right again. Part of that meant that I've humbled myself in asking our former Osean enemies for help as well. Whether or not you want to admit it, we all have a common enemy in the Radicals now."

The other military officer, an Air Force general stroked his gray beard, "Perhaps Princess, but you're asking for a lot of trust from us when General Labarthe had been killed recently. We're still not sure if it was really an accident or if it was malicious intent from your Osean allies there."

Rosa winced a moment but stood her ground to argue, "Whatever the case, the alternative is worse. Labarthe had told the Oseans that the Radicals may have some very dangerous drone technology being developed now. If we don't work together to stop them quickly, then we could all be in trouble."

"You're asking for more preemptive aggression again?" the other male politician challenged her, "You're asking us to commit our strength and trust these Oseans when we have little evidence that you can be trusted either?"

Although the accusation was a fair one, Avril winced at the cutting remark to Rosa and she wanted to get in and start arguing too, but Tabloid held her back and shook his head.

"For the time being, we'll put you in one of the civilian encampments on the other side of the island," the colonel said, 'We can reconvene tomorrow and continue with these talks when we are all fully prepared."

Rosa gave a dejected sigh but acquiesced to the motion. For now there was nothing she could do but rest, prepare, and steel herself for the real brass tacks negotiating set for tomorrow. These Conservative leaders seemed to entertain her idea, but they had a long way to go before they trusted her and she felt the added stress of having to try and win over the trust of her Osean counterparts as well. All she could ask for was more time, but that was a precious commodity and she had little left to spend.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Tabloid made his way outside of the civilian encampment area where the Osean delegation had been taken. There were a few small housing units there that seemed more like dormitories but Tabloid wanted to get some fresh air. After the revelation of what was going on here with people of Belkan descent, he wanted some space to breathe and figure out if there was anything he could do to help those people. From the location of the housing units, Tabloid could see the structure of a giant Mass Driver in the distance. The giant ramp had been built in other places around the world as a means to launch spacecraft or to quickly launch other types of aircraft as well. The purpose of this one was most likely for transports which provided supplies for the ISEV project.

Despite the look of the skies which had begun to darken with large dark gray cloud fronts, Tabloid sighed and enjoyed the relaxing feeling of the cool autumn air. He stood looking at the serene sight of the Mass Driver and didn't even hear Avril as she came up from behind to join him. "Hey. It's a hell of a sight, isn't it?"

He turned and gave a nod, "Oh, Avril. You surprised me. I thought you'd be back at the camp with Princes Rosa and the others."

She shrugged, "She's taking a nap right now. She has a lot to prepare for tomorrow so I figured I'd only get in her way. Besides, politics and diplomacy aren't exactly my area of expertise."

"You didn't have to tell me," Tabloid teased her earning himself a swift punch in the shoulder, "Still... I think you're a good friend for volunteering to come along here. I know Rosa was needing some other female friends and I think you helped ease Trigger's concerns about this whole mission too."

"Honestly, I actually kinda agree with Trigger," she admitted, "This whole plan is crazy... but we're desperate, so we have to try something."

Tabloid chuckled, "Ah. I thought pulling off the daring half-cocked stunts were Trigger and Count's department. It's already kinda remarkable how many victories they've pulled out of their asses, huh?"

Avril laughed gently, "Yeah. I guess so. But serious question now. How come you decided to come here too?"

Tabloid paused, "Me? Oh... well, I wanted to get out of the base a little bit. Plus, I figured you could use the company."

She studied him a moment and tried to get a read on him, "You weren't worried about me going too, were you?"

"Well... maybe a little," he admitted, "I mean, we are friends after all. It's only natural I'd be worried, right? Would you believe me if I said Trigger put me up to it too?"

She gave a small smirk and a snort of amusement, "Nah. I'd think you're giving that dumbass too much credit now."

The two shared a brief companionable silence before Avril turned to him and spoke again, "Tabloid, are you okay? You seemed a little troubled on the car ride in. You're not getting the PTSD shakes again, are you?"

"What? No!" he said quickly, "It's not that. I was just thinking about something else earlier, and it was troubling me. That's all."

"Okay. If it's bothering you, do you want to talk about it?" she asked, "Like you said, we are friends after all, right?"

Tabloid looked to her and grimaced silently. How was he supposed to tell her about his concern for the Belkan people being mistreated here? How was he supposed to tell her he was part Belkan too? Not only would he be risking his life here on Tyler Island, but he'd risk any hope of maybe pursuing a future relationship with her in which they weren't just friends. "I'm sorry Avril. I just don't know. Now is not a great time."

"Steven... talk to me here," she said showing both stubbornness and concern, "Please?"

He took a deep breath and made a resolution to himself. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze, "Tell you what... when we're away from the island and we're someplace safe, I promise I'll tell you everything, okay?"

She gave him a questioning look before reluctantly nodding, "All right. In the mean time, you promise you'll be okay, though?"

He smiled and squeezed her hand again, "Yeah. I promise."

He seemed to have spoken too soon as he saw some bright lights in the skies. She stopped and turned to look at them as the objects neared. To his horror, he saw the objects had smoke trails indicating they were projectile weapons. They looked to be cruise missiles launched from a naval ship, "What the hell? Avril! Look!"

The two of them watched as more projectiles were launched and seemed to rain down on the island from the dark cloudy skies. In the far distance, they could hear the roar of fighter jets and they were certain it wasn't the sounds of engines from any Osean jet. Avril stammered, "How is this possible? Is the island under attack?"

Tabloid grabbed her hand and pulled her back toward the safety of the housing complex, "We can worry about that later. Come on! We have to find the princess and get to safety!"

* * *

_**Cape Rainy Air Base, Erusea**_

Little did they know, but the moment Tyler Island was attacked, the air crews at Cape Rainy were put in high alert and the LRSSG was summoned to HQ immediately. We all took our usual seats in the briefing room while Long Caster hooked up a laptop to the digital projectors. As he did, there was a lot of loud chatter among the pilots about what to do and they were finally waved off when the major waved them off and turned on his tactical map.

"Okay, enough talk. Your opinions have all been taken into consideration. If you don't already know by now, Tyler Island has just been attacked by a large force of Eruseans from the Radical faction of its military. Although we all know what has to be done, I'm not sure how this will affect our overall strategy in the region… or what little we're actually going on right now from mission command. Radio communication is still pretty patchy for both the military and civilians so that doesn't help things either."

Count and I had seemed to pale a little bit thinking of both Tabloid and Avril being put in harm's way over there. The thought was enough to shake our confidence a little bit and fear the dark clouds of uncertainty which had now settled in over that remote island. Long Caster cleared his throat and continued.

"Still, with what looks to be a major force of Erusean Radicals in the area, it'll be too dangerous for the Conservatives to try and effect an evacuation either. There used to be a joint Osean army and air base on Tyler Island so that should give the people there a fighting chance to hold out against a siege for a while. The Radicals probably know that too as Tyler island is the only strategic location that would let us strike at the Lighthouse without having to refuel. Most importantly, the island serves as a transport facility for supply ships that provide drones and ammo for the Arsenal Birds. It's clear that Tyler Island is a critical location for all sides to have access to. With any luck, the Radicals might be driven back by the time we arrive… but that might be wishful thinking."

Jaeger grimaced and spoke up from his seat, "With everything at stake, I can't imagine that the Erusean Radicals wouldn't go all in to try and seize that position. I wish they'd just give up and go home."

"Hell, I wish I could go home now too," Count interjected as Lanza echoed his sentiment.

"Me too, man."

Long Caster turned and looked directly at me studying my expression before speaking, "With that look on your face, I know exactly what you want to do right now Trigger."

Count put an encouraging hand on my shoulder and gave a little squeeze, "Don't worry buddy. We'll get our friends back… and Rosa too."

"Thanks Count," I said gratefully, "I think it's time the cavalry mounts up and rides to the rescue."

Huxian cracked her knuckles and gave an eager smile of agreement, "If Trigger's ready to kick ass, then so am I!"

"Damn straight! We're with you Trigger!" Lanza added trying to fire the others up too.

Long Caster folded his arms and gave a solemn nod, "It's decided then. Gather your new aircraft and mount up. Strider Squadron's new orders are to scramble and haul ass to Tyler Island. Although you can avoid the Arsenal Bird's anti-air network, there may still be some remnants of Erusean forces lurking around. You need to get to the island without any unnecessary combat. Remember, you don't have any time to waste so get going immediately. If you drag your ass, you'll get left behind. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir!" we all chorused as Strider Squadron rose from our chairs. We had a fire in our hearts and a new mission to tackle, only this time, we'd make sure that it ended in success and nothing was going to get in our way of that.


	5. No Man's Land

_**Tyler Island, Usea**_  
_**October 9, 2019**_

The darkness of night had set in over the skies as chaos, violence, and confusion completely enveloped Tyler Island. Princess Rosa, Avril, and Tabloid along with some of their Osean guards had fled further inland in the wake of what looked to be a large invasion force of Erusean Radicals who seemed intent on seizing the island. They hadn't wanted to stick around and witness any of it, but they could already hear the dull thudding of artillery guns, sporadic bursts of small arms fire in the distance, and the occasional boom of a cruise missile strike.

As night set in, the tired group finally reached a small encampment of Erusean refugees who were loyal to the Conservative cause. Most of them looked to be civilians with a handful of soldiers standing guard over the camp. As they neared the encampment and were stopped by some armed soldiers, Tabloid saw that several other pockets of civilian refugees were filtering in looking for safety and shelter for the night. Avril gave a wave when she saw that the soldiers, "Hey! We're in trouble. Do you think we can camp out here tonight?"

The captain of the Erusean soldiers gave a scowl as he continued to watch people trying to get into the camp, "No! This is ridiculous! Can't you see the island is under attack? We can't handle this many people coming through. And are those a few Osean soldiers with you? What's going on?"

Princess Rosa stepped forward causing the Eruseans to instantly recognize her, "I am here on a diplomatic mission. We want to try and help you fight off the Radicals, but we need shelter. We're asking for your help... please."

The captain grimaced and seemed reluctant to offer any help when another voice spoke up. It came from a male civilian who was camped nearby. He was a youngish man with short sandy brown hair and patrician features. The most striking thing was that he spoke with a distinct Belkan accent, "Captain... I can share some of my space with them. It might be a good idea we let them through."

"This isn't your call to make Georg. You're not a soldier," the captain growled in annoyance.

"Maybe not, but there's strength in numbers," Georg answered calmly, "The princess will be important and maybe her escorts know how to handle guns?"

The other Oseans along with Avril and Tabloid all nodded. The captain finally relented with a sigh toward Georg, "Fine. You're lucky enough we even let someone like you stay here."

The soldiers moved off allowing the group passage as Georg led the way into the campgrounds, "Come with me."

He led them to a small plot where he had set up a tent and a small campfire. The girls immediately went to it and sat down to warm themselves while Tabloid stood off to the side with the man. Tabloid extended a hand and gave a tired smile, "Thanks friend. That's really generous of you."

Georg shook his hand with a nod, "Sure... it seemed like the right thing to do, and I know my wife would have insisted on this too."

Tabloid looked around, "Is she around? It looks like you're here all by yourself."

Georg wrinkled his features, "When the Radicals attacked earlier, I was separated from my wife and daughter while I was at work at the Mass Driver Facility. I hope they're okay."

"You were working as a scientist here then?" Tabloid asked.

Georg looked surprised, "I... yes. How did you know?"

Tabloid kept his voice low and put a hand on Georg's shoulder, "Because I'm Belkan too."

He spoke that last phrase in a Belkan accent like his parents had. From nearby, Avril turned her head when she thought she heard Tabloid speak in a funny way but she shrugged it off, chalking it up to her own tiredness and the sounds of distant fighting in the darkness. Her attention was drawn away Rosa came to sit down beside her along with her dog. Rosa sat glumly by the fire watching it crackle and she gave a sigh. Avril scooted over and spoke comfortingly, "Hey... everything okay Princess?"

"I don't know," she admitted, "I'm beginning to think maybe some of the others back at your base were right... that this whole plan was stupid of me. Maybe I was a fool to think I could actually do anything here and now it's become a warzone... and I've gotten you all involved too."

Avril bit her lip, "Don't be too hard on yourself Princess. Your intentions were good and we all thought this was worth the risk. Maybe some good will still come of this. I'm sure once our friends hear the island is under attack, Long Caster will send help."

The two women listened as the sounds of gunfire and artillery punctuated the creeping darkness of night. Rosa gave an uncertain look, "That's a big leap of faith. You really think Tom and the Striders would be able to reach us in time?"

Avril put a comforting arm around the younger girl's shoulders as they stayed by the fire, "You know all about keeping hope and faith alive Princess. If it's not too much to ask, I think we could all use some of your confidence right now."

* * *

_**Airspace approaching Tyler Island**_  
_**October 10, 2019**_

It had been a long fretful night as our squadron set out from Cape Rainy and made a stopover in Farbanti for refueling and rearming. By now, the Osean forces occupying the capital made full use of the captured military facilities for supplies and munitions. We knew that even if we left from Farbanti and hurried down the western coastline of Usea, it would take us some time to reach Tyler Island. We would have just enough fuel to engage in a battle, but we'd also have to hope that the airfields would be secured by allied forces. As the early morning sun began to peek over the horizon, Strider Squadron made its approach to Tyler Island from the north. We could already see the skies had grown overcast from thick clouds while plumes of black smoke rose in dark columns from various points of the island. No doubt the Radicals and Conservatives there had been engaged in fierce air and ground fighting all night but it was hard to tell who was winning from this distance.

Upon reaching the edge of the airspace, we armed our weapons and descended to get a better view of the battlefield so that our controller could better ID our targets. He opened a radio channel and made an announcement, "Conservative forces, this is AWACS Long Caster. These new aircraft are part of the Osean Federation's LRSSG. They are here to assist you against the Radical invaders."

We got a reply from an Erusean infantry commander who seemed to be in the thick of a battle, "Thank you Long Caster. We could use all the help we can get right now. The Radicals have launched a massive attack and have driven our defense forces back. We're holding out but just barely. I'm sending you updated tactical data."

Moments later, our radars updated with new friendlies and hostiles making things a lot easier for us. Long Caster gave us the go ahead, "Understood. Strider Squadron, give our new allies some cover."

"Roger that! Let's go Striders," I called swooping in to strafe the enemy targets, "Let's give em some hell!"

Our squadron of Raptors swept in like the wind and opened up on Radical ground forces which where advancing in this nearby sector. I could already feel the difference in the way this new Raptor handled compared to some of the older craft I had flown before. It was faster and the steering was much more quick and responsive. Everything was smooth about the aircraft's handling and I could feel the raw power that lay hidden underneath just waiting to be unleashed at the right now. Several tanks and jeeps were consumed in flames as we swooped past and bombarded them a volley of missiles and gunfire.

We soared across the chaotic landscape of the island that had become a battleground between the two factions. It seemed the island's green rolling hills and meadows were interspersed with housing and buildings for transport related facilities. Here and there, we dive bombed enemy ground forces and wove through the hail of intercepting fire that was then directed up toward us. Huxian gave a growl as we swooped around some AA fire and dodged a volley of SAM site missiles, "Damn! It's getting pretty hot up here. I can see we didn't miss the party."

Much to our relief, a few squadrons of Conservative Erusean aircraft swept into the area and did not attack us. They saw what we were doing and offered to help with the airstrikes. I could hear the leader of the Erusean squadron give a grim laugh, "This world must be turning upside down. I never thought I'd actually be glad to see help from an Osean fighter wing."

From down on the ground, Radical ground forces began closing in on the nearest refugee encampment. From their hiding paces, Avril and Tabloid were surprised when the Erusean soldiers around them handed them some spare assault rifles, "You two know how to use these? We could use every man we can get! Come on, we have to defend the camp!"

Before they could depart, Avril spotted a squadron of Osean F-22s roar past in the distance and her heart stopped when she saw one of them had three lines. Rosa, who was standing nearby looked at her in confusion, "Avril? What's wrong? Where are you going?"

Avril pushed past and headed for the nearest radio that was left in the tent of the Erusean soldiers. She began to work it and surprised Tabloid and Rosa with what she said next.

* * *

As we angled back toward the interior of the island, I was surprised when I heard a crackling radio transmission come through on the comms, "Hey dumbass with the scratches on his tail! Ya hear me? I need your help!"

I broke out into a bright smile before I heard Long Caster cut in, "This is a secure military line. Who is this?"

"Come on Long Caster, Trigger and I would recognize that voice anywhere! It's the Scrap Queen!" Count laughed with equal relief, "Avril! You're okay!"

"Nice to see you're still breathing too Sir Count," Avril teased gently before Tabloid cut in to speak.

"Hey! You guys are cutting it really close here. Going for the dramatic rescue or something?"

Avril interrupted, "We don't have a lot of time! Rosa, Tabloid, and I are taking shelter in a refugee camp that's been encircled by Erusean tanks. Needless to say, our future isn't looking too bright. We heard the Radicals are invading this section of the island to go after the Mass Driver. We think they want to ship some supplies to the Arsenal Bird and prolong the war."

"First thing's first. We're coming to save you," I reassured Avril while Huxian voiced support for her fellow female comrade.

"Hang in there girl. We've got you."

"Righto," Count agreed, "Send us the target coordinates."

Avril winced, "Yeah... I wish I could. I don't have a way of doing that. I don't have a laser target indicator on me right now."

That was when Rosa spoke up and I heard her voice on the comm, "Hey... why don't we use a smoke canister?"

She had been rummaging around the soldiers' tent and found a carton of them that produced yellow smoke.

"Girl, are you nuts? Who's going to take it to the enemy's doorstep?" Avril frowned.

Rosa eyed the canisters in her hands and took a deep breath before rushing out of the tent with a determined look. Avril, Tabloid, and Prince went after her with Avril shouting, "Wait! What the hell? You dumbass! Where are you going?"

Rosa sprinted toward the edge of the campground where enemy tanks were approaching over a nearby ridge. The princess pulled the pins on the smoke canisters and hurled them as hard as she could toward the advancing enemy armor. The canisters rolled along the ground and began billow bright yellow smoke into the air giving away their position as well as tipping the Radicals off that there was some resistance in the camp. They turned their guns and began to fire some mortars around Rosa's position and the princess fled back toward safety as fast as she could. Although she cleared the blast zone, the mortars went off and the force from the explosions and dirt clouds were enough to knock her face first into the ground. As the princess lay stunned, Avril and Tabloid rushed out and tried to pull her back to safety.

The three cowered as they saw the enemy tanks roll forward while up above Long Caster chimed in, "Strider Squadron! We've confirmed the location of the flare and updated your targeting systems! All Osean aircraft, take out that enemy armor!"

"Don't miss, we don't want to take out the pretty ladies down there," Jaeger added as we zeroed in on our friends. We descended at attack speed and swooped in from the coast to attack the targets.

I could see my targeting brackets light up red around the incoming tanks which were threatening our friends on the ground and I didn't want to waste a second more, "Strider Squadron, open fire!"

We unleashed a precision salvo of missiles that rained down and hammered the Erusean tanks below causing them to immolate and explode into clouds of shrapnel. Tabloid used himself to the shield the girls while Avril and Rosa watched as the LRSSG arrived like avenging angels and swooped by to vanquish their tormentors.

Amid the smoke and flames that billowed from the ruined tanks nearby, Rosa watched as the Osean squadron of F-22s roared by overhead. As they circled about, she gave a relieved wave to them and fixed her eyes on the lead Raptor with three lines painted on its tail. Avril and Tabloid pumped their fists and gave a cheer with some of the other civilians while many other Eruseans who were present started singing a song to buoy their spirits. As the sound of jet engines filled the air and the Osean fighters roared by, Rosa smiled to herself realizing this was now the second time Trigger had come to her immediate rescue in battle. As much as she wished she could thank him right there, she knew the battle was not yet over and the Striders still had to keep fighting. She said a silent prayer for their safety before she suddenly sensed some movement nearby.

Rosa turned in surprise and gasped when she saw a pair of enemy soldier stagger from the flames and smoke. They had to have been survivors from one of the destroyed tanks and they were attracted to the signal from the smoke canister that still hung in the air. Both of the injured tankers stumbled over drunkenly and caught sight of the princess. They fixed her with looks of murderous intent as they slowly raised their pistols to fire but their attack was thwarted as another rescuer came to Rosa's aid. She heard a loud growl and the sound of fierce barking as her dog Prince rushed forward to defend her. The canine leapt and sank its teeth into the arm of one of the Radicals causing him to cry out in pain. The other tanker jumped in surprise and fired a few wild shots to help his comrade until more gunfire rang out and he was struck down by a bullet.

Rosa whirled around in surprise to see Tabloid and Avril move to cover her with their own rifles raised. Prince struggled a few moments more with his own foe before giving a yelp and letting go allowing Avril a clean shot to take down the soldier. The two hurried over with looks of concern as Tabloid asked, "Your Highness? Are you okay?"

Instead, Rosa fixed in horror as she saw her beloved dog limp toward her and fall to two legs with a gunshot wound to its side. She rushed over to her pet frantically trying to wipe away blood and comfort it as she tried not to cry, "Prince? Prince? Stay with me, please! You can't leave me!"

Avril rushed over and grabbed Rosa by the shoulders to haul her back to the safety of the camp, "Come on Rosa. You need to get back to cover!"

The princess protested but Tabloid quickly scooped the injured dog up in his arms and began carrying it back, "Don't worry Princess. I've got him. We Oseans don't leave our own to die."

As Avril continued to drag the distraught princess back with her, she looked to the dark skies above and hoped that her friends in the air would be able to stop the Radicals in time. The civilians might have been saved, but many more would likely die later if the Arsenal Bird got a new shipment of weapons and fuel.

* * *

Up above, I punched my throttle forward and called to my squadron, "Let's get a move on Striders! If Avril is right, then the Radicals are going to make for the Mass Driver supply ships. We don't have a lot of time left!"

"I agree. But we don't have a whole lot of fuel left either," Huxian pointed out as we continued racing through the sky to reach the other side of the island, "I can see the Mass Driver from here but..."

We were all silenced as we witnessed the towering launch ramp activate. The huge aerial transports which were loaded down with supplies accelerated down the ramp one by one. To our shock, the bulky transports were seemingly catapulted down the short track and launched off the ramp at incredibly high speed. I had never seen a mass Driver in action and I always wondered how the science behind it worked, but this was not the time. Long Caster was already in our ear to sound a warning, "Strider Squadron, I've just detected energy spikes and activity from the Mass Driver. What's going on?"

"The transports have launched sir," Count replied in dread as we finally reached the area. We could see our targets flying out over the open seas with a head start against us, "Tally three bogeys."

"Understood. Strider Squadron, you have to hurry and take those shuttles out before they reach the Arsenal Bird's air defense zone," Long Caster informed us, "I'm calculating the ETA, but I can tell you there's not much time."

"Not to rain on everyone's parade here, but did I just see lightning out there?" Jaeger asked. We looked out in the distance to the direction that the transports were headed and we could see them flying into large dark banks of stormclouds. As they continued on to try and reach the cover of those clouds, we saw some arcing lightning bolts flash in the skies followed by the menacing rumble of thunder.

"I'm picking up new enemy bandits from Erusean airspace," Long Caster added in dread, "They look like they're here to escort the transports."

"Understood, " I replied tensely as I angled my Raptor toward the lead transport in the distance, "Strider Squadron is moving to intercept. Count and Huxian, each of you chase down the flanking transports. Jaeger and Lanza, keep those bandits off of us. I'll go after the lead ship."

I heard calls of "Roger that" and "Wilco" from my wingmates as we changed formation and peeled off to attack our targets. As we neared the stormfront, I could already feel the stormy wind currents buffeting my plane and threatening to destabilize us. Another peal of thunder rumbled loudly across the dark skies causing our cockpits to vibrate and our ears to ring. The enemy escorts buzzed by us as our radar lock warnings went off and our other wingmen moved to cover us. I felt my plane pushed again by the stormy wind currents as Huxian called, "Arggh! Lightning strike! My sensors just got scrambled!"

"Keep a visual and wait for your systems to reset," I answered as I unloaded some flares to ward off an enemy missile. I had been in the same predicament in Yinshi Valley while I dueled Mihaly for the first time. It had been the danger of the lightning that had forced us to part ways, but the situation of having to fly and fight blind in a storm was something that all pilots feared, no matter how experienced they were, "Count?"

"I'm here Tom. I'm almost in range to get a missile lock," he answered, If I can just keep a clean angle..."

"Strider 1, we've got our hands full here," Lanza called out as he and Jaeger engaged in a running dogfight with the escorts.

I kept pushing forward waiting for my targeting sights to red on the lead transport, "Hang in there Strider 5. We just need a little more time."

As I closed, I heard my wingmates speak up, "Strider 2, Fox 2!"

"Strider 4, Fox 2!"

Count and Huxian opened fire on their targets and their missiles finally struck home. As the missiles detonated, we were caught off guard as the two transports exploded in colossal spheres of brilliant blue flame. The powerful shockwaves shook the skies and the blinding light disoriented all of us for several seconds. Had any of us been caught closer to those transports, we would have been incinerated in the blast radius. Count veered aside gasping, "Holy shit! Was that what I thought it was?"

"High powered fuel and Helios missiles. That's a pretty potent cocktail," Jaeger opined as I blinked to clear my eyes and chase the last target.

"Strider 1, be advised target is within 35 seconds of the Arsenal Bird's network," Long Caster pointed out with a nervous edge in his voice.

I kept a tight bead on the target and chased it with laser focus through the wind, rain, and lightning storm, "Almost got em."

"Trigger?" Huxian murmured

The bracket went red and I unloaded a volley of missiles and gunfire, "Strider 1, Fox 2!"

I immediately made a rolling dive to change direction get clear before the missiles hit their mark. The rest of Strider Squadron peeled off and angled away as the missiles hit the transport and lit up the skies with another colossal blast of fuel and ordnance. Upon seeing their transports destroyed, the Erusean escorts broke off their attack and retreated back to their defense zone ceding the skies of Tyler Island to Strider Squadron. I leaned back in the seat of my cockpit and exhaled a relieved breath, "The last transport has been splashed and the skies are clear. Good work everyone."

The squadron regrouped and turned back to Tyler Island, hoping to beat the thunderstorm before it rolled in as Long Caster radioed with relief in his voice, "Sorry I couldn't make it to the fireworks show back there. Hopefully everything will be settled down by the time you reach the island. Early telemetry shows the Radical assault has been beaten back. Nice job pilots."

By now, Avril had gotten back on the comm channel, "Trigger? Count? You guys still there?"

"No worries Avril. We took down the supply ships and are headed to the island to land," Count reported, "Are you guys all right?"

"Tabloid and I are fine," Avril responded, "As for the princess... well, she's a bit emotional right now."

Count chuckled gently, "Can't say I blame her. After pulling a crazy stunt like running out in front of enemy tanks, I'd be too."

"You don't understand. There are still a bunch of hurt people down here," Avril said, "I think that's what she's fretting over."

"That's why I like staying the skies. You don't have to see those kind of things," Count admitted before I took the lead of the formation. I wanted to get back soon to see Tabloid and Avril, but I also wanted to check on Rosa and help her if she needed it. For now, I'd just have to be patient.

"Come on Count. Let's get back to the island. Our friends are waiting for us."


	6. Aftermath

**_Tyler Island, Usea_**  
**_October 10, 2019_**

It was late morning when Strider Squadron finally returned to Tyler Island and landed at the former Osean air base there. It was a little strange for us to think that this base had once technically been ours except now it was currently occupied by the Eruseans. Perhaps it was only fair since we were using their bases in Cape Rainy and Farbanti. After landing our fighters and parking them in some hangers, we were mobbed by many rank and file Erusean airmen who wanted to come and thank us for our help. Again, it felt a little odd that people who were once former adversaries were now warming up to us. Jaeger voiced exactly what I was thinking as we made our way through the line shaking hands and getting pats on the back. "I don't know about you guys, but this is downright surreal. I feel like a rockstar."

"Be sure to tell your boy about it," Count ribbed him before a few younger Erusean pilots rushed up to take a surprise photo with me.

"Sorry. We just had to do this," one of the female pilots apologized, "To think, we've got the famous Three Strikes right here on our base, fighting on our side now!"

The airmen were suddenly scattered as an annoyed looking colonel came through, "All right, break it up! Show's over here! Get back to work!"

The older officer pushed through and came to greet us with a simple nod, "You must be that wing of Osean aces who came to help. I guess we should be thanking you today."

"We're just doing our job and helping to fight our mutual enemy here," I answered carefully while extending a hand.

The colonel eyed it for a moment before returning the handshake, "I assume you must be here for your friends? I heard Princess Rosa and a group of Oseans had come to the island to try and negotiate a truce."

"Yes sir. Would you be able to tell us where we could find them?"

The colonel led us back inside the base with him, "With all the chaos of the battles that started last night, it might be difficult, but we can try to help. After all, your squadron did save us."

"I'm sure that will go a long way toward our friends' mission of making peace here," Huxian offered helpfully.

I hoped she was right, but if I was being honest with myself, I was much more concerned with making sure our friends were safe.

Meanwhile back at the refugee camp, Rosa sat by Georg's tent fretting over her wounded dog. There had been so much blood when Tabloid had returned to the tent and found help from a civilian veterinarian who had been in the camp. Right now she was busy doing improvised surgery with the few supplies that were on hand. At the moment, Rosa didn't know where Tabloid and Georg had gone off to after the incident as she was lost in her own little daze. It had been an almost out of body experience for her as she tried to recall what possessed her to take the actions she did earlier. She had never really considered herself all that brave in the past. Of course public speaking and dealing with the citizens of the Erusea took some guts and charisma, but it was nothing nearly as close to risking one's life on the battlefield by staring down death like a solider or a fighter pilot. As a public figure and a politician of sorts, she had been always been insulated from those things and didn't have to see blood, violence, or death up close like she did on this battlefield. Right now, the only thing she could think about was how badly she wanted to try and help protect the innocent civilians that were here. In that moment, she didn't view them as Radical or Conservative. She just saw them as Eruseans... as her responsibility and now she was feeling added guilt that Prince had suffered for her reckless action.

Her attention was drawn away as Avril approached and placed a soft hand on her shoulder, "Hey. How are you holding up Princess?"

Rosa shrugged noncommittally before Avril gave a sigh, "How about Prince?"

"Hard to say," Rosa murmured, "A vet is looking after him right now trying to remove the bullet and stop the bleeding."

Avril nodded quietly for a moment before clearing her throat, "I uh... know this isn't the best time, but there's a large group of Erusean civilians and soldiers who want to meet with you right now. They seemed really impressed with your actions and they want to thank you. I guess I do too."

Rosa looked up at her slowly, "I don't know Avril. I really don't feel like it right now."

"I know you don't, but this may be our big chance to foster some goodwill with the Eruseans here," Avril pointed out, "Maybe that will help distract you a little?"

Rosa frowned to herself. Maybe Avril was right. For now, she'd keep carrying on her royal duty and worry about her own feelings later when she had a chance. It wasn't the best situation right now, but they had to make the most of it. If the pilots of the LRSSG had to keep their feelings in check and do their jobs, then so would she. She stood up to join Avril and she nodded, "Okay... let's go."

* * *

Elsewhere, Tabloid and Georg had gotten back on the camp radios to make some calls, not only to try and find Strider Squadron, but to also find Georg's family. There had been a Belkan concentration camp just a few miles up the road so they decided to take a short hike to see if they'd have any luck there. To their surprise and horror, they found the camp was in near ruins upon their arrival. They trudged up the road and passed some wire fences that had been mowed down at the periphery. Black smoke trailed up from some of the burnt out housing structures and there were tank treads and boot prints all over the ground. As far the two men could see, there didn't seem to be any order here at all. Here and there the scattered Belkan refugees sat huddled together consoling themselves and looking to be in a complete state of shock. Even more unusual, there didn't seem to be any other soldiers about the place keeping guard. Those few that seemed to have their wits about them were already busy scrounging for supplies and setting up makeshift shelters. Tabloid was the first to step forward and approach some of the people. He picked out a young family huddled near a bombed out building where a young mother was comforting two crying children while the father worked to gather some supplies and maintain a campfire.

"What happened here?" Tabloid asked causing the family to eye him suspiciously before he adopted a Belkan accent to put them at ease.

The father motioned him over and gestured around the ruined camp, "Look around. We survived hell. That's what."

"The Radicals did this?" Tabloid asked curiously but the man shook his head.

"No. Not just them. The Eruseans that put us here had already begun the nightmare and didn't stop until the Radicals came and destroyed the rest of the camp. I'm not sure if we should be thankful to the invaders or not."

Georg wrinkled his brow in confusion, "I don't understand. What do you mean by that?"

The father pointed over toward a ruined building a short distance away, "Best you see for yourselves."

Tabloid and Georg exchanged an uneasy look and walked across the campgrounds to the scorched housing structure. Once they rounded a corner and walked toward a wide grassy field out back, they were surprised and horrified at what they saw next. There looked to be several figures spread out on the ground near the side of the large building. They approached cautiously and saw that the figures had been covered by some blankets but before they could look, they noticed something odd along the side of the building. Georg ambled over and saw bullet holes and dried blood spatters along the stonework. "This is blood... and there are bullets lodged in the wall. You don't think..."

Tabloid frowned and felt his stomach twist as he bent down to one of the figures on the ground, "This was a coincidence? No. These look like the bodies of dead civilians and I don't think they were part of the fighting. Look how they're lined up. Whatever happened to these people, they were systematically executed."

Tabloid partially uncovered some of the bodies and felt his heart break when he saw the victims were men, women, and children who were indiscriminately killed. He and Georg turned in surprise when they heard the Belkan father come to join them with a dark expression, "Now you see. Now you understand why I don't know how to feel about the invaders."

"The Conservatives did this?" Tabloid asked in horror.

"Yes. Shortly before the Radical forces broke through and stormed into the camp," the man told them, "The Erusean Conservatives here were afraid and desperate and they blamed us for helping to start this whole war. I just don't understand anymore."

Tabloid clenched a fist and looked over the bodies feeling anger over what happened to them and pity they had died in such a terrible way. The skies above remained dark and the distant storms in the skies continued to rumble and churn. He spoke aloud in a cold determined voice, "This isn't right. This should never have happened. This twisted game has to be reset."

Georg nodded in agreement before he felt his own anxiety seize him, "What if this same thing happened in other camps across the island? Oh my God... what if my wife and children were..."

"Have some faith Georg. We don't know that," Tabloid said grimly as he got up and pulled out a small camera from his rucksack.

"What are you doing?" the father asked curiously.

Tabloid turned his camera over toward the corpses and snapped a photo, "I intend to report a war crime so I'm taking photos for evidence. After that, I'm going to move these bodies so they can be buried later and then try to help any other refugees here."

Georg got a hold of himself and nodded quickly, "Right... okay. Once we get back to our own camp, we should tell Princess Rosa. Maybe she can do something about this."

Tabloid continued to snap some photos of the grisly scene of butchery while maintaining a solemn expression on his face, "Of that, I have no doubt."

* * *

Later that day, those of us in Strider Squadron finally located our friends and were driven out to the site of their refugee camp. As I got off the back of the jeep with my wingmates, I recognized the area from where we had attacked the Radical tanks from the air. Around the periphery of the camp, we had seen the burnt out husks of those tanks and APCs that we had destroyed in our airstrike, thanks in no small part to Rosa's bravery in marking the location for us with a smoke canister. Count and I led the way though a checkpoint of soldiers and we could already see the camp was getting crowded. More civilian refugees and soldiers seemed to be gathering here and we followed the flow of people to the center of activity. When we finally reached the heart of the camp, we saw several Erusean officials and officers had gathered within a large open tent to hold a meeting with a few other people, most notably Princess Rosa herself. They were all busy talking while Tabloid and Avril stood off to the edges of the action.

When our friends saw us, they immediately left their spots and came to greet us with overjoyed looks on their faces. No sooner had I clasped Tabloid's hand, I was almost bowled over by a hug from Avril and she gave Count a similar greeting. I smiled to Tabloid and threw an arm around his shoulder, "Man, are we glad to see you guys! I was scared we weren't going to make it in time."

"We had cut things pretty close and you guys really came through with that airstrike too," Tabloid said, "Were you guys able to get to the Mass Driver?"

I nodded my head, "Yeah. We were barely able to take out a bunch of supply ships that were headed for the Lighthouse. Though, I'm surprised. What are you guys doing here in this place?"

"We were forced to flee inland when the Erusean Radicals invaded the island," Tabloid said, "Fortunately, we were allowed to be taken in here and we held up until you guys arrived in the battle."

"What's going on now?" Count asked, "What's with all the people here? It's starting to look like a rock concert."

"Seems like some of the Erusean leaders we were having issues with earlier caught wind of the princess's heroism earlier today. Now they seem a little more open and willing to talk since she stuck out her neck for them."

I couldn't help but give a tired smile, "Really? That's fantastic! Add that to Strider Squadron's actions and we might be able to secure a truce with the Conservatives after all."

At that, Tabloid grimaced and looked away slightly, "About that... I'm not so sure it will be that simple yet."

"What do you mean?" Count asked, "Why the long face all of a sudden?"

Tabloid hesitated for a long moment before recounting his own experience earlier in the day. While he didn't tell Count and Avril about his Belkan heritage, he told us about the concentration camps, about how he befriended a refugee named Georg, and how they came across the site of a war crime. Tabloid had arrived back in camp just in time and was able to report it to Rosa before her meeting but he hadn't had time to fully process the extent of the atrocity either. We all stood in quiet solemn shock at the news, wondering what would happen now. I could only wonder if Rosa would even bring the issue up, or if she would compromise her ethics a little bit in order to secure a truce. I could understand either way, but I could clearly see the execution of the Belkans did not sit right with Tabloid either. I wished I could comfort my friend at that moment and say something to reassure him but with Avril, Count, and the rest of the squadron present, I decided to hold my tongue and speak to him in private later. I'm sure Tabloid understood my own dilemma right now, and I could only hope he would forgive me for that.

Within the tent, Princess Rosa continued to speak with the leaders of the Erusean Conservatives trying to hammer out a verbal pledge for a peace accord with Osea. One of the members of the old Parliament offered Rosa a gracious expression as she spoke at the table, "It appears we may have been wrong in some of our initial judgments. We were impressed when we heard about your heroic action to save our people in this camp from the advancing enemy tanks."

"They are still my people too," Rosa answered calmly. Though she wanted to point out that her beloved pet had been hurt in the action, she held off thinking it would only sound a little petty, "Like I told you before, I just to try and stop the bloodshed so no more innocent people of any side have to suffer."

"I admit... we may have doubted your sincerity at first, but it's clear your willingness to risk yourself shows your commitment to the cause," one of the Erusean military officers said, "If this Osean fighter squadron known as the Striders are any indication, then perhaps we could reach some sort of mutual agreement."

"I can vouch for Captain Richter," Rosa replied, "He may have built up a fearsome reputation among Erusea's airmen as Three Strikes, but I can tell you that he's still an honorable man and I feel that you can trust him and his people too."

"We will take that into consideration," one of the officials chimed in.

"Good because there's something else I'd like for you to take into consideration," Rosa said firmly, "I understand there are concentration camps with Belkan civilians here?"

"Yes, Your Highness. Relocating them was done was a safety precaution for us when we moved into the island."

Rosa leveled her gaze, "I see. Because it seems if anyone is in need of protecting, it's them."

The other officials exchanged puzzled looks until Rosa produced several Polaroid photos that Tabloid had taken from the concentration camp that he had been at. The Erusean military officers and politicians all squirmed and looked on with uncomfortable expressions as the grisly photos were exposed to them. Rosa spoke again, "It's come to my attention that there have been systematic executions of these people at one such site. I can only wonder if the same has been allowed to happen at others."

"Princess, let's not be hasty," one of the officers said to her trying to calm her down, "For all we know, the Radicals could have committed that atrocity and that it was an isolated incident."

Rosa nodded, "You're right. They could have. That's why I want a formal investigation launched into this. Find out whoever is responsible for this and we will make sure they are brought to justice."

"Even if it was someone on our own side?" one of the officials asked skeptically.

"Especially if it's someone on our side," Rosa insisted heatedly, "If we want to have any hope of stopping this war, then we cannot allow something like this to divide us, much less happen. If we executed Belkan people here, I know the Osean Federation would not stand for this behavior either. That is why we need to clean up our act here and now if we're going to work with them. We are better than this. I know we can be."

"You sound like you're speaking for the Oseans right now, Your Highness," one of the officers pointed out.

She glared at him and made one more statement before turning to leave the tent, "No. I don't speak for them. I'm speaking for the right thing to do and the new better Erusea we have to rebuild. I just hope that you will all be willing to do what's right for our country too and join me."

* * *

That evening, all of us in Strider Squadron along with Avril, Tabloid, and Princess Rosa were brought back to the island's air base where we were all given temporary quarters in one of the barracks. By now, evening had finally set in bringing the busy events of the day to a close. With the end of the day came some rainstorms which swept over the island with its cleansing rains. After the fierce battle over the island, the storm was a welcome opportunity for both sides to pause the fighting and take stock of the new situation. Although the Radicals had been beaten back and taken significant losses, the Conservative forces who occupied the island had suffered equally large human and material losses as well. Despite the apparent stalemate, the prospects of cooperation between Osean forces and the Erusean Conservatives now seemed much more likely. We had taken some major risks, and it wasn't until now that it was starting to bear some fruit.

After eating some dinner and showering, I sat in my quarters organizing some of my gear. It would be at least a few days before some transports arrived with Long Caster and some of our belongings and equipment from Cape Rainy. In the mean time, we made do with some of the old supplies and clothes that had been left at the base before the Eruseans seized it. Presently, the room was quiet as Tabloid had gone off to help his new Belkan friend Georg make some more radio calls hoping to locate Georg's family. Count and the rest of the squadron had gone to play cards with some of the Erusean pilots, and likely share a few drinks and cigarettes while they were at it.

As much as I would have liked to join them, I felt physically and mentally drained. At the moment, the darkness of night, the cool autumn air, and the steady sound of the rain outside was a nice backdrop to finally relax and unwind. Once I stowed my gear, I put on a warm high-neck infantry sweater that I had scrounged from the base's storerooms. Those articles of clothing which were dark blue in color or bore the star emblem of the Osean Federation had been completely ignored by the Erusean occupants as they had no use for them. That was fine by me and my squadron. If the Eruseans didn't want these cold weather clothes, then we'd happily take them instead.

I left my quarters and headed outside the warmth of the barracks to stand on the long portico which was protected from the storm by an overhang. I was planning to stay for a bit and listen to the steady rainfall but I was surprised when I found Princess Rosa already standing outside by herself. She seemed to have had the same idea and I really couldn't blame her. She had also been through a lot today and I could understand why she'd want to go to a quieter place to settle her mind. As I neared, I could see she had let her blonde hair down and that she had found some old casual clothes from storage as well. She had found a warm white colored turtleneck made of wool. She didn't seem at all concerned that the sweater was sized a little too big, or that it had an emblem of the Osean flag on the sleeves either. In that moment, she didn't look like a princess at all and instead just looked like... well, an average everyday girl you'd see on the street.

I cleared my throat as I approached, "Cossette? Hey... do you mind some company?"

She turned with a start and relaxed when she saw it was only me, "Oh... Tom. I'm sorry I didn't see you just now."

"It's okay," I said coming over to join her, "I didn't mean to disturb you. I'm sure you have a lot on your mind."

"That's a bit of an understatement," she said with a weak laugh, "I take it that's why you're here too?"

I shrugged as we watched the rain falling, "After everything that happened, I just wanted a quiet moment to slow down and relax. Up to now, I had been really scared and worried and I was in such a rush to get here. I just hoped I wasn't too late."

"Avril and Tabloid are very lucky to have a friend like you Tom," she smiled quietly as she looked out in the distance, "Someone who's willing to rush across a whole continent to come and save them from harm."

"Not only them," I pointed out, "I came to keep you safe too. I promised I'd help you and protect you, didn't I?"

She turned and studied my face when I glanced over towards her too, "I'm sorry Tom... I'm sorry I didn't get to thank you sooner for saving me in battle today. It seems I owe you my life again."

"You don't owe me anything," I said, "You helped protect my friends in that camp, along with all those other innocent people today. And you did it without the benefit of an F-22 or a sidewinder missile. I'd say that's pretty darn heroic too."

"But it wasn't enough," she sighed as she looked away again, "It wasn't enough to protect my dog. It wasn't enough to keep those Belkans from dying. And my kingdom is still broken in half. I have enough blood on my hands... from those of my country and of yours too."

She took several deep heaving breaths as I stood in silence with the only sound between us the steady sound of the rainfall, "I'm tired of this war Thomas. I'm tired of fighting, of killing, and seeing everything around me fall apart. I just want it to end. Do you know what I want right now?"

I waited a moment and shook my head quietly, "No. What?"

She gave a faint smile with a distant look, "I want to wear a cute pair of sweatpants and sit on a couch with Ionela and all my other girlfriends. I want to stay up late and have a greasy pizza while we watch a sappy chick flick and talk about which guys we think are hot. Tonight, I don't want to be the ruler of some country and worry about issues of state. I just want to be regular old Rosa Cossette again. I never asked to become the leader of Erusea."

"I know the feeling," I said with a small smile of understanding. It was true. I never expected I'd be thrust in the situation I was now. If someone told me I was going to go from falsely accused convict to an ace pilot and the wing commander of an elite fighter squadron in the span of several months, I never would have believed them. It already felt like an eternity ago and it made me realize that Rosa was right. I was feeling very tired too.

I spoke again, "But like it or not, we're here and there's probably some good reason for it too... not that I really understand the cosmic order of things anyway. I'm just a fighter pilot so what do I know?"

Rosa tried to give a weak smile, "Hmm. I keep thinking about how I used to be such a happy sheltered kid. Now... I don't know how it's all come to this, or where we'll even go from here."

"Let's just worry about finishing the war first," I offered gently, "We don't have to worry about rebuilding all of Usea just yet. We'll finish this one mission objective at a time until we stop Enrico Moretti."

Rosa thought it over and nodded, "I let him cause all of this. He's a really bad guy... but I still can't help but feel that it's all my fault."

"Maybe because you're one of the good guys now," I said quietly.

Rosa looked up to me doing the best she could to keep from crying. She looked so small and helpless right now as she stepped forward and hesitated. I instinctively closed the distance and gently put my arms around her in a comforting hug. I felt Rosa bury her face in my chest and clutch at my sweater, grateful for the feeling of warmth and protection. We remained like that enjoying the comforting feeling of holding another person close before she spoke quietly, "Don't leave me right now?"

"I'm not going anywhere," I answered as she finally broke down and began sobbing into my shoulder. Never in a million years would I have ever thought I'd be here right now... a hero of some ridiculous war holding a beautiful princess in my arms as she cried on my shoulder. At least for tonight, I knew there was something I could do for Rosa. As I remained silent and continued to hold the crying girl in my arms, I didn't view her or regard her as the high and mighty princess of Erusea. At that moment, she could just be the person she had always been. She could just be Rosa Cossette and nothing more.


	7. Collateral Damage

_**Tyler Island Air Base, Usea**_  
_**October 22, 2019**_

Nearly two weeks had passed since the ferocious battle of Tyler Island and despite the Conservative victory there, the Erusean forces on both sides had been weakened and wearied by the confrontation. By now, a few Osean support units had been brought in and allowed to operate on the island though it was still a very uneasy truce that had been established. Both the Oseans and the Conservative Eruseans there had spent much of the war fighting each other and now it was a bit surreal to be joining forces against a worse enemy in the violent and unpredictable Radicals. To Princess Rosa's credit, she had helped to negotiate the cooperation of our sides so we decided to make the most of it. A lot of time had been already been spent trying to tend to the wounded, repair damaged structures, and rebuild the island's shattered defenses. Regardless, seeing more of our Osean allies here was a little more reassuring to those of us in Strider Squadron.

It was a bright chilly October morning as I walked with Tabloid toward the females' quarters. We were going to grab lunch and figured we'd see if Rosa and Avril were around to join us. As we walked, we chatted idly about some of the recent rumors and events that we heard swirling around the air base. I wrinkled my brow a little and gave a pensive look, "I wonder if those Osean cargo ships will ever arrive? I've been hearing some scuttlebutt from the senior officers that we might have to start cutting down on operations and rationing supplies."

"That Radical attack really stretched Tyler Island and did a number on the supply lines here, huh?" Tabloid guessed.

I nodded with a slight look of dismay, "If there is a food shortage, I'm kinda wondering if we'll even be able to get any lunch today."

"Ever since Long Caster landed on the island, I'd say the odds aren't in our favor," Tabloid joked trying to make light of the situation, "At least I can feed you a little good news instead. You remember Georg?"

"That Belkan guy working on the Mass Driver. The one you made friends with during the invasion?" I asked.

Tabloid nodded, "Turns out they located his wife and daughter. They weren't harmed when people started getting killed at those concentration camps. As far as I know, they were reunited just yesterday."

I gave a warm smile, "You're right. That is good news and I'm glad to hear it. I'm sure he'll be grateful for all the help you've given him."

"Ah well... I was just trying to do the right thing, you know?" Tabloid grinned sheepishly, "Belkan or not, it was the least I could do."

"Speaking of, you haven't told Avril or Count about... you know," I said.

He shook his head, "No. I just haven't found a good time to bring it up. I'm sure Count won't care really, but Avril? I'm not sure yet."

"Just because you've got some Belkan blood doesn't mean you're evil," I pointed out, "I'm sure if Avril really liked you too, which I think she does, then she wouldn't let something stupid like that get in the way."

"Yeah. Maybe you're right Trigger," he shrugged, "I don't suppose you're banking on the same deal with Princess Rosa? A starcrossed Osean and Erusean?"

"What? I... no," I sputtered in sudden embarrassment at having been caught off guard, "You're way off base Tabloid!"

He fixed me with a silent smug grin forcing me to explain myself further, "It's not like that! She was just lonely and needed a friend around here so that's what I've been."

"Ah. I see," Tabloid teased me with a patronizing nod, "Whatever you say."

"I do say."

Tabloid casually stretched his arms out, "That's too bad Trigger. You're missing a chance to be one of the greatest Osean pilots in history. Do you know how big of a stud you'd be if you hooked up with a hot princess, ended a war, and turned Erusea into an ally? You'd be a freaking legend."

I glared at him red-faced while he just shrugged with a laugh, "What? I'm just sayin."

We stopped at the door to Rosa and Avril's quarters and Tabloid knocked on the door. When it opened, Rosa greeted us with a kind smile and led us inside. "Sorry. I wasn't expecting you guys. Come in!"

"We were going to see if you and Avril wanted to join us for lunch, but I'm guessing she's not in?" Tabloid asked.

Rosa shook her head, "No. She went to the hangers this morning with a grumble. Eugene had asked her about upgrading his fighter... something about installing a music player in the cockpit?"

Sitting on a nearby mat on the floor, we could also see Rosa's dog recovering from his battlefield injury. The dog had been bandaged up and Prince rested on his side giving a mild whine because he couldn't get up to play. I walked over and patted the canine on the head with a smile, "Hey puppers. Feeling a little better? Just take it easy right now because you earned it."

The dog snuffled at my hand and then lay back down to enjoy the attention while Rosa laughed, "It seems he likes you."

"Yeah. That's a good sign Your Highness," Tabloid said innocently while casting a small wink in my direction. I gave him a dirty look and prepared to offer a retort when a female Osean airman knocked at the door.

"Captain Richter? Sorry to bother you sir, but Long Caster is calling Strider Squadron into a briefing."

Tabloid crossed his arms, "That's odd. I thought you guys were scaling back operations with the supply shortage."

"I did too," I admitted in dismay as I got up and headed out the door, "But whatever it is, it must be important enough to skimp out on lunch."

* * *

_**Gunther Bay, Selatapura City**_

After having left downtown Seletapura, Dr. Schroeder and the Shilage girls were escorted by the leader of the Erusean Radicals into a dark SUV. From there, the group was driven to the edge of the bay and into a large underground tunnel which led directly into the International Space Elevator. Upon arriving, Moretti and his bodyguards led the group from the underground passageway to the main level of the Lighthouse. Even as he walked through the large airy atrium of the Lighthouse's ground floor, he couldn't help but marvel at the light and the aesthetic beauty of the towering building. There was a seemless flow in its design which brought the eyes upward to the heavens, reflecting the aspirations of the late President Harling. Even in the atrium lobby, there was a harmonious blend of futuristic architecture and state of the art displays to highlight humanity's progress and achievements. Of course, the centerpiece of the atrium was a large painting that adorned the wall.

The younger sister Alma stopped and stared in fascination at the image that had been displayed upon the painting. It was a heavenly scene of celebrating people and beautiful women in colorful flowing gowns. They looked to be dancing and holding flowing ribbons while in the distance were other towers rising up into the skies, shaped just like the Lighthouse. Ionela came over and took her sister's hand while staring the image of ethereal beauty too. She wondered what it could possibly mean before their group was ushered deeper inside by Moretti and his guards. As they walked down a secure passageway, Moretti scoffed, "President Harling was an idealistic fool. To think... he probably meant for that oil painting to reflect the shining triumph of his precious Osean Federation towering across the rest of the world."

"You're really serious, aren't you? You really have other uses for the Lighthouse?" Schroeder asked carefully as they were led into what looked to be a more sterile mechanical facility. As they passed through, everyone watched in awe from behind glass windows as an assembly line stretched out before them creating a horde of new drone fighters for the Arsenal Birds.

Moretti gave a snake-like smile and laughed, "You didn't believe me? You think I'm some kind of megalomaniac super villain from a comic book? No. I am a visionary and in this place lies our future. To think... President Harling's means to dominate Usea will be the thing that leads to his own country's downfall."

"What is this place?" Schroeder asked curiously.

Moretti gestured around the new complex which was lined with computers and screens, "This is the Lighhouse's main control center. This is the place where I'd like you to finish your work. Once your program is uploaded, we should be ready to broadcast across the world and complete our work."

"You really expect that I'll agree to this?" Schroeder asked adjusting his glasses calmly.

Moretti smiled, "Why wouldn't you? Doesn't every scientist want to leave a grand mark upon the world? For every person who has ever denied you or mocked you, wouldn't you want to prove to them just how wrong they were. Think about it Schroeder, I'm giving you the chance to help us remake the world and bring about a new order."

"Your order?"

Moretti shook his head, "No Doctor. Our order."

Schroeder paused and stood in silence considering the offer. It was tempting. Moretti was clearly mad with his vision, but who was Schroeder to judge anymore? He had helped to bring about this technological monstrosity as well. He had helped propagate the war and he had enabled Mihaly's whims... all at the expense of these poor girls here, the ones who were now technically in his care. It all came down to him and Dr. Schroeder knew that he had to do something. He made up his mind and set down his laptop on a nearby counter. He pulled out some cables from his labcoat and kept a straight face, "I'll finish the program."

"What?" Ionela shrieked in outrage. Her dark eyes flashed with anger as she stamped her foot, "Doctor? What is wrong with you? What do you think you're doing?"

"He's joining the winning side," Abigail DuMorne said as she approached menacingly, "It's best you do the same little girl."

"Don't patronize me," Ionela fumed, "I don't need some terrorist's lapdog telling me what to do."

Abigail's eyes flared as she fixed her glare on Alma, "Then maybe your younger sister will help convince you to..."

"Abigail. Enough," Moretti said raising a hand to calm the situation. He turned toward Ionela and gave a slow smile, "Miss Shilage. I have no desire to hurt you or your sister. While the good doctor works on his drones, you are my guests here and will be treated as such."

"I'm going to call my grandfather," Ionela scowled, "He'll take us away from this place."

"I'm afraid not my dear," Moretti sighed, "He's busy flying one more mission for me. "

Ionela blinked in confusion, "For you? I don't understand. Why on earth would he help someone like you?"

"Perhaps because he loves his granddaughters too much and didn't want to see them get hurt," Moretti said as he walked off with his retinue.

Ionela stood in silent shock as she put the pieces together and realized what he was implying. She took several breaths and turned to look at Dr. Schroeder but the scientist averted his gaze and continued his work. Whether it was out of complicit shame or because he cared more about his precious data, she could not be sure. "I won't forgive you for this Dr. Schroeder."

"You'll have to trust me Ionela," Schroeder said quietly, "Things will work out. You'll see."

The teenage girl took her sister's hand and left the room, unable and unwilling to spare another word to the traitorous scientist.

* * *

_**Tyler Island, Usea**_

Some time later, Strider Squadron assembled in the HQ of the air base to receive our new orders. Despite being in an Erusean base, Long Caster had taken the lead of the presentation with an Erusean air force colonel joining him nearby. Although it looked like this would be led by Strider Squadron, it would still be treated as a joint operation with our new allies. Also joining us were Tabloid, Avril, and Rosa who sat nearby and listened intently to what new updates were going to be presented. As the monitors went up, Long Caster cleared his throat and spoke, "All right, it's time for the briefing. We still haven't gotten any contact yet with HQ so this might be considered a kind of unofficial mission. As you all might be aware, we have begun to suffer a major supply shortage in the wake of the Radical assault here. Any future relief from Osea looks to be delayed, but we still have one thing working in our favor. We now have a launching point here from Tyler Island."

"Surely the Radicals are hurting too. What does this mean for us?" Count asked.

The Erusean colonel spoke up and folded his hands solemnly, "For now, we just have to do what we can to survive. Since the enemy lost the capital of Farbanti, we've gotten reports that the forces of the Erusean Radicals have begun to disintegrate into smaller autonomous factions. After having repelled their major attack here at Tyler Island, they are looking much weaker and more disorganized. As of now, the remnants of the Radical faction are converging around the Lighthouse. The space elevator is still significant to them so they will likely try to defend that position at all cost."

"Maybe we should take the initiative? Launch a counterattack and hit them right back?" Huxian suggested.

Long Caster interjected again, "We would like to, if only we had the supplies and power to do it. Although we have the enemy cornered, we can't afford to waste time and allow them to organize and fortify their positions."

"So if we can't count on new supply shipments, where are we going to get them?" Jaeger asked, "You're not suggesting what I think you are... are you?"

Long Caster nodded, "I'm afraid so. If we head inland from here towards Erusea, there's an old castle that's been converted into a supply base: Shilage Castle."

My blood ran cold when I heard the name and couldn't help but curse the irony of this situation. Long Caster continued, "It's currently occupied by some Erusean forces, but we need ammo and fuel. The recent defense of Tyler Island has left us seriously depleted in our own resources. That's why I'm assigning Strider Squadron to this task. Your mission will be to clear out the air defenses and provide support for our transport planes which will be used to restock our supplies."

Rosa stood up and waved a hand, "You can't be serious Major! Do you know what you're suggesting here? You're going to raid a civilian area and loot it like a bunch of marauders?"

I finally decided to speak up, "I'm not happy about this either Princess, but there's no other choice."

"No choice?" Rosa argued with growing passion in her voice, "I thought there wasn't a choice when I helped declared war. Now look where we are. Your assault could cripple the local people's ability to defend themselves!"

"Not if we're careful and take them by surprise," Long Caster offered but Rosa shook her head indignantly.

"And if something goes wrong? Then what? It's a slippery slope and once you rationalize the first misstep, it's easy to lose yourself."

"Princess Rosa, if we're going to end this war, we need to be able to keep fighting," I argued back, "Believe me, I wish there was another way."

She gave a genuinely upset look to everyone in the room and it hurt me that I was now a part of it, "I can't justify this action! I'm sorry, but this isn't right!"

"With respect Princess, but this isn't your call to make," I said, "Neither is it mine."

She took a calming breath and sat back down with a solemn expression, "Perhaps you're right Captain Richter, and I understand. It still doesn't mean I have to like it. You do your duty and I will do mine."

I sat back and slumped down in my seat with a grimace. Count placed a firm but silent hand on my shoulder in understanding. These sorts of issues were why civilian politicians often came into conflict with us military people and it was just the unfortunate natural order of things. I'm not sure which upset me more. The idea of making some civilians suffer in this mission, or upsetting the princess.

"We will be mobilizing a convoy of cargo transports to follow behind Strider Squadron's attack so we're going to be in need of pilots to help," Long Caster said before Tabloid took his turn to stand up.

"I'll do it. I'll volunteer to help fly one of the transports."

Count turned to face him, "Whoah... hold on there Steve. Are you sure about this? Are you going to be okay to do this?"

Tabloid turned to look at me, "Please Trigger. Let me do this? We need all hands on deck and I want to step up again."

"He's going to need a copilot so I'm with you guys too," Avril added as she stood up beside Tabloid. He gave her a grateful smile and looked back to me.

"Well? What do you say Strider 1?"

I looked to the uneasy expression on Rosa's face before I turned back to all my fellow pilots, "All right then... when do we scramble?"

* * *

**_Erusean Air and Space Administration_**  
**_Experimental Testing Facility_**

The sun had already begun to set as Colonel Mihaly A. Shilage made his way out to the hangers where his new aircraft was being prepared for its next sortie. The new experimental aircraft dubbed the X-02S Strike Wyvern sat undergoing inspections from some of the technicians while some custom weapons were being fitted to it, chief among them was a large energy cannon that was being mounted carefully upon the underside. Like his Su-30 flanker, this aircraft was also painted in dark colors with orange highlights on the tails and the wings. If his old aircraft had been menacing before, the new silhouette would be guaranteed to strike fear in the heart of any Osean airmen. The futuristic craft sported a sleek design and its angled variable wings gave off a menacing look that made the plane appear to be more of giant bird of prey ready to kill anything it came across in the clouds.

Mihaly should have felt thrilled to take to the skies in such a magnificent war machine, but right now he felt empty and hollow inside. He was alone right now at the base with only his thoughts to keep him company. His squadron had flown ahead going south toward his home in Shilage tracking the movements of the LRSSG. It was somewhere near there theat he hoped he would accomplish his final mission. He would meet Three Strikes in battle and end their battle once and for all. It was only then he could bring back his honor and ensure the safety of his granddaughters Ionela and Alma... the two granddaughters he had failed already. Never again, he vowed silently to himself. In the coming days, he would join Sol Squadron in Shilage and prepare to finally track down his foes. In the fading light that streamed in through the hangar doors, Mihaly made peace with his situation and prepared for the possibility that he could fall in his next battle. As he watched the dying light of the orange sun on the dark horizon, he could only wonder if his Osean rival was ready to do the same.

* * *

_**Tyler Island Air Base, Usea**_

The next morning, I made my way toward the hangers to check up on the progress of our squadron's fighters being prepped. If we were going to be going into a potential battle, especially in a place known as Shilage, I wanted to make sure our Raptors had all the maintenance, fuel, and ammunition we would need. I had been a little uneasy about the fact that Tabloid and Avril were also coming along with the transport convoy and the concern for their safety weighed even heavier on my mind now. Now that I had Major Wiseman's job, looking after everyone's welfare really was my responsibility now. In some ways, it almost made me wish I was still back at Fort Grays being one of the newbie subordinate flyers under Clown and Knocker, only having to worry about myself.

I didn't have a lot of time to reminisce as I was greeted by Tabloid and the Belkan scientist named Georg. It seemed they were waiting for me and passed the time watching some of the techs work on on our aircraft. Tabloid waved me over with a grin, "Hey Trigger! There you are! I have someone here who wanted to meet you. You remember Georg, right?"

I extended a hand and shook his, "Right. Of course. Nice to meet you again Georg I'm happy to hear your family was safe."

"Yes. Thanks in part to you and your squadron Captain Richter. Believe me when I say I'm in all of your debt," the man said with a friendly smile.

I held up a clipboard and pointed to the aircraft, "All right, well... I hate to cut things a little short, but we have a mission coming up and I have a lot of prep work to do. If you'll excuse me..."

"Wait. Hold on Tom. That's part of the reason Georg is here today," Tabloid explained, "He came to me because he wanted to offer something that might help the squadron in the future."

I gave the man a curious look, "All right. I'm listening."

Georg grinned, "While I've been here working for the Oseans, one of the projects I was involved in was testing some new weapons, particularly energy based ones. I've got a working pair of energy cannons that I believe could be fixed to the systems of your aircraft and give you an edge in battle. They still need some fine tuning, but if you're willing, I was hoping I could install the pulse laser cannons on your Raptor and see how they perform. If all goes well, I might be able to put together more for the rest of the your squadron."

I exchanged a look with Tabloid and thought it over. The idea of high energy laser cannons sounded incredibly cool, but it was a bit of a gamble since they were untested. We were already taking a gamble with this mission so I figured, what was another one really going to cost. I nodded, "All right, let's try it out. Keep me posted and let me know as soon as they're ready."

Tabloid gave a salute and went off to help Georg install the new secondary weapons on my fighter. As I watched them head off, I was surprised again as I felt a gentle hand upon my shoulder. I turned and came face to face with Princess Rosa who looked a bit weary and concerned. "Oh... Cossette. I'm so sorry. I didn't hear you just now. You're up early."

She gave an almost apologetic expression as she shrugged and looked at me, "I didn't sleep well last night. I had a lot on my mind. I um... do you have a moment?"

I nodded and walked her over toward a corner of the hanger where it was more quiet and we could speak privately. "What's wrong Princess?"

She gave a pensive look as if trying to figure out how to approach things before she turned her blue eyes to meet mine, "I was doing a lot of thinking about yesterday and I wanted to apologize to you Tom. I didn't like the fact we had an argument like that in front of the squadron."

"Rosa... it's okay. You don't have to apologize," I said, "I understand you were a little upset about the commanders' plans and that the rest of us were going to go along with it."

"I'm still not happy about it and I don't approve of the plan, but I understand," she said. "It's just..."

"There's something else in play?" I asked taking a guess.

She nodded, "Before you and your squadron head off on your next mission, there's something I wanted to ask you, and something I'd like you to promise me?"

I eyed her cautiously and asked, "What is that?"

"If you're going to be raiding into the region of Shilage, there's a fair chance you might run into Mihaly out there. I want to ask that if you do wind up fighting him again... shoot him down if you have to, but please... do not kill him either."

I blinked in surprise, "What? Why?"

"I'm asking this as a favor to my friend Ionela," Rosa pleaded, "I know you and Col. Shilage have bad blood between you, but I'm asking you to try and show mercy. This mission is bad enough and the last thing we need is more blood spilled like that."

Now it was my turn to feel a little indignant, "Rosa... I know you don't want your friend Ionela to get hurt and to lose someone she loves, but what you're asking me to do... I can't. Mr. X is a menace to Osea and that monster has already killed many people... several that I've known and cared about too. I'm sorry, but I can't make that promise to you."

I know it was a little hard hearted of me to say, but I meant it. Sure there was a part of me that was still seeking vengeance for the deaths of people like Brownie and Wiseman, but I couldn't let Mihaly take any more of my wingmates away. I just refused to allow such a thought. She reached out with a pleading look, "Tom... please..."

"I'm sorry Rosa," I said with a lot of conflict in my heart. I hated to upset her and let her down for a second time, but it had to be done. I gave an apologetic look and walked away to rejoin the service crews in the hanger, "I've got work to do right now."

* * *

**A/N:**  
**Special shoutout goes to fulcrum101 here for contributing some of the ideas used in this chapter, especially some of the dialogue used in the briefing argument with Rosa. Thanks again for the great input!**


	8. Angels and Demons

_**Airspace around the Grand Duchy of Shilage**_  
_**October 24, 2019 **_

The light of the late autumn sun was beginning to fade as Strider Squadron carried out our next operation into southern Erusea. Thick fluffy banks of cumulus clouds hung over the landscape reflecting the long golden rays of the sun as it began to make its descent into the skies. Some distance away, the convoy of cargo transports flew behind us about half an hour out with a small escort of Conservative fighters to protect them. They were counting on us to clear the airspace and neutralize the anti-air defenses quickly and that's what we intended to do. As we cruised along, I wondered for a moment how the new pulse lasers Georg had installed in my Raptor would perform or if I should even try using them.

I decided to break the relative quiet by radioing Tabloid in one of the following transports, "Strider 1 to Pelican 5, what's your status?"

"All's well over here," Tabloid answered as he sat in the cockpit of one of the smaller cargo planes which had been drafted into the operation, "It feels a little funny being back in the saddle… but so far so good."

He was surprised when he felt someone reach over and give his hand a squeeze. Avril had come along on the mission and sat in the copilot seat to offer some reassurance. Although Tabloid had suffered some minor panic attacks after his traumatic crash in Bulgurdarest, he had been slowly regaining his confidence to fly again. She graced him with a quick smile and got on the radio, "Don't worry Trigger. He's in good hands here."

I gave a quiet smile and nodded to myself. I believed her and only hoped that I could do my own part to keep them safe today. Everyone in the squadron had already been a little uneasy with the mission orders. All of us pilots knew that this was war and that sometimes these things had to be done. Still, none of us liked the idea of taking supplies from others by force either. I had no doubt Castle Shilage still served as a safe haven for some of the innocent civilians and refugees in the area to flee to. Those people needed food, fuel, and supplies to protect themselves just as much as we did. The horrible question to be justified was… who needed it more? In my heart I had sympathized with Rosa's objection to this mission. After all, it would still be her subjects who were suffering because of this. But sometimes the burden of being in the military was to harden your heart and choose the lesser of two evils to protect your people.

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard Long Caster cut in over the comms, "All right Striders. You're approaching the target airspace. Remember, there are no Osean or allied forces in the region ahead. There's no need to ID your targets or hold back."

"Acknowledged," I answered as our squadron of Raptors descended down into the region of Shilage marked by rolling pastoral hills and thick forests. In a way, I felt a little guilty for what we were about to do here. In this light, Shilage looked to be a serene and tranquil place with lots of natural beauty, a far cry from the busy and heavily urbanized area of Farbanti. It was hard to imagine why Col. Shilage didn't just want to hang up his wings and retire here in this place. By now, our sensors began to pick up ground targets and zero in on them. "All right team... let's get to work."

As Strider Squadron roared over the countryside, we unleashed a rapid and ferocious airstrike over several AA guns and SAM sites guarding the edge of the region. As we blew past the fiery wreckage of the picket positions, Count grimaced slightly to himself, "I still can't help but feel a little bad we've got to do this. I feel like we're going to be deserving of some solitary for this."

Count's little dark humor and reference to the 444th was not lost on me or Tabloid if he was listening to our channel. I heard Lin's voice speak up, "You take if you want to live. That's how it was where I lived growing up."

"Just stay focused right now Huxian. We've got to clear a path for our transports and make sure all the ground targets are silenced," I replied in a dead calm voice as we changed direction and headed deeper into Shilage. As we sailed over a main road through the duchy, Count spotted a line of vehicles down below, "Hey, there are more vehicles along the road. They don't appear to be military."

"Probably Erusean refugees," Jaeger speculated with a grim tone, "I'd guess they're probably fleeing some of the really bad conflict zones. Or maybe getting help from Shilage nationals?"

"What do you mean?" Huxian asked curiously.

"The autonomous state of Shilage used to be a small nation," Jaeger explained giving one of his pedantic history lessons. As the oldest one the squadron, he tended to wax poetic at times, but once in a while he offered some good insight with his stories, "The region has always pushed for independence. Those who wanted to restore their homelands flocked to it. From what I know, their core here is now made of officers from Voslage, a neighboring region to Shilage."

As Strider Squadron flew across a riverbend and approached some patches of populated villages, the spray of fire began to erupt from a few more AA guns which were tucked away in the wooded area below. Jaeger veered off and rolled clear to avoid the fire, "Watch it!"

Not far behind, Lanza swept in and strafed the exposed gun positions quickly shredding them with his cannons. "Resistance is getting stronger the deeper we get. That can't be good."

"We're almost there," I called out as we regrouped and soared on ahead, "I can see Castle Shilage in the near distance. Let's hit it hard and fast to keep those supplies intact."

"Roger that... but I still feel like a burglar, and this is coming from an ex-con," Count murmured uneasily.

Huxian was quick to shush him, "Shh! Don't talk like that. We're doing this for our survival, remember?"

She was right, but I continued to eye the large fortified castle which was perched upon a large hilltop overlooking the region. It was a magnificent old stone structure situated near a town below and a freeway which had been converted into a runway for supply planes. As we neared the large medieval castle, we picked up several AA guns and SAM sites which had been set up around the castle to defend it from air attack. If this ancient structure belonged to that old bird Mihaly, then I shouldn't have been surprised it was dangerous but unassuming at the same time. If he was here, I wondered how he'd feel about us crashing his homeland, "All fighters, heads up. Incoming fire!"

The five Raptors in our squadron split off and peeled away to avoid some incoming flak and missile fire that had been directed our way. We screamed around the skies, circling patiently like vultures to move in on our prey. As we swooped past more intercepting fire that came in heavy at us, I decided to try something and I called over to some of my wingmates, "Huxian! Lanza! Draw some enemy fire and cover me."

"Wilco Strider 1," Huxian answered as she and her comrade moved in to get the attention of the anti-air forces below.

As they changed direction and drew away the enemy fire, I looped back around and made a high dive directly for the center of the castle. As I careened toward the ground headfirst, I armed the new pulse lasers that Georg had installed on my fighter and decided to use them. I lined up some shots and pulled the trigger unleashing a barrage of high powered laser bolts from the wing mounted cannons. I could feel the light jolt from each shot as it rattled my hull but the bolts surprised me at just how effective they were. The bolts were fast and true and they packed the same punch as if I had fired a missile. Each laser bolt hit the anti-air turrets of the castle causing them to instantly explode into smoke and flames. As my Raptor swooped clear and leveled off, I could see that the main defenses of the castle had been completely destroyed in mere heartbeats.

"All right! Nice shooting Trigger!" Jaeger cheered as he and Count formed up alongside me. Count chuckled and added his own praise in.

"Hell yeah! Those new laser blasters you've got are pretty badass. Those gun turrets didn't have a prayer."

Despite the success of my new weapon, I could see Georg still had to tweak a few things. On my weapons console, I could see some heat sensors for the pulse cannons and they looked to be running hot. I needed to let them cool off again lest I overheated the lasers and burned them out. As we circled around to see the routed ground forces below, Jaeger winced slightly at the sight of the damaged castle and the main town, "This is a place of high cultural significance. It's a shame we had to bomb it like we did just now... not something I'll tell my son about."

"I'm glad Rosa's not here to see this either," I agreed while speaking in an equally grim tone.

Before we could catch our breath, we heard Long Caster speak up on our comms, "New hostiles. All allied aircraft confirm. I'm picking up enemy interceptors taking to the air... from an underground tunnel? What?"

To our surprise, we watched as a squadron of familiar Erusean Flankers burst up from below and took to the skies to meet us. They had the same orange and black paint that we had seen in Farbanti and their heraldry marked them as the notorious Sol Squadron. They didn't waste any time launching a salvo of missiles at us causing us to scatter. count gasped in surprise, "Whoah! Look out everyone! Break! Break!"

"Strider Squadron, regroup on my position!" I shouted loudly to rally my team together to face our new foes. These were an elite group of enemies and we couldn't afford to take any chances.

I could already the familiar voice of Sol 2 radio me on an open channel. Perhaps he was commanding the squadron here? "Attention Osean fighters. This is Sol 2. You are in violation of Shilage airspace. Turn around or we will be forced to shoot you down! I'm only going to warn you once Three Strikes. Take your people and leave this place immediately!"

Long Caster answered him over the open channel and issued a firm order, "This is AWACS Long Caster of the Osean Long Range Strategic Strike Group. Land immediately and hand over your planes and base to us."

Strider Squadron now began to jockey in the air and maneuvered against Sol Squadron as we prepared to skirmish each other. Sol 2, the pilot named Wit gave a sardonic laugh, "You must be joking if you think we're going to surrender. I don't see nearly as many of you since we last fought at Farbanti."

"You bastard..." Count growled but I cut him off and answered Wit with an aggressive retort.

"Then I guess we'll just have to shoot you down and humiliate you all over again. Haven't you clowns learned by now? You can't beat Strider Squadron."

I could hear Wit give an angry growl over the comms as our Raptors and their Flankers tangled and opened fire on each other, "You arrogant Oseans defile this country! As long as you're here, this land will never know peace!"

With that, the aerial battle over Shilage was on. Despite having their allies on the ground being reduced to ruins, Sol Squadron still decided to make a defiant stand and that impressed me. Our squadrons seemed evenly matched as our Raptors and their Flankers buzzed and harried each other. Unfortunately, I couldn't pick out Mihaly in this whole mess. I had not heard him speak to me and I wondered if he was even present in this battle. Right now, there was a more pressing issue and that was the fact our transports would be arriving soon. We had to clear the airspace and drive off Sol Squadron for good.

At one end of the battlefield, Huxian joined up with Count and moved to engage one of the enemy bandits, "Strider 2, you want to help wrangle this one?"

"I'm with you Huxian," he answered as they angled off and moved to trap Sol 3 in a pincer. The bandit pulled a sharp banking turn and spiraled into a dive to try and shake Count but he cut off the enemy's flight path and followed him in the diving maneuver. As Count rolled with him and harried the enemy with some gunfire, Huxian circled around in a steep banking dive into intercept from the opposite direction. Before Sol 3 could realize he was caught in a trap, Huxian fired a missile into the wing of the Flanker while Count fired a missile at the thruster. The missiles hit Sol 3 and caused the plane to roll in midair as it violently disintegrated into a cloud of fire and mangled steel. Before the plane could explode, the pilot ejected safely but the loss still demoralized his fellow wingmen.

Meanwhile, I was busy dueling Wit while Lanza and Jaeger were busy holding off the other Sols. Wit and I rolled and juked in midair trying to gain an angle on one another but we were locked in a stalemate. I could hear him breathing heavily as he tried to keep up, "I'm not going to lose to you again Three Strikes. I'm going to make my country proud."

We climbed and continued to angle against each other in a post stall maneuver until I finally got a bead on him and began to tail him into a dive. He seemed to realize I had him and he cursed aloud as I tried to get a missile lock, "Damn!"

"Hang on Sol 2! I'm coming!" one of his other wingmen cried as he broke off to engage me too.

I turned my head and saw my new enemy coming up quickly from behind, trying to break up my lock. Wit seemed to realize what was going to happen and barked a warning, "No! Wait! Don't rush him Sol 4! You're going to..."

I pulled my Raptor into a tight Kulbit maneuver and looped over Sol 4. As I did a close somersault over him, I pointed my nose downward and sprayed several bursts of gunfire into his fuselage tearing apart his air-frame. The Flanker violently lurched sideways and spiraled off causing the pilot to eject before the aircraft plummeted to a fiery death in the woodlands below.

Wit gave another curse of frustration. This was not how things were supposed to go! These new Striders must have gotten even better since their last confrontation. They were completely overpowering Sol Squadron and the battle looked all but lost now. "No! It can't end like this!"

Just then, my warning sensors went off and I felt my Raptor rattle as a burst of powerful light sailed just wide of me and seemed to split the air. It was all so fast and I jerked my stick to roll clear of the blinding red beam of searing energy. Once I reoriented myself and leveled off, I looked off in the direction of the attack and saw the shadow of a new aircraft approaching from the west with the pink skies and setting sun at its back.

Long Caster was already sounding a warning in my ear, "Strider 1, you have a bogey approaching at high speed, straight from the west!"

"What the hell was that?" Jaeger asked in shock, "Some kind of energy weapon? Or a railgun?"

My blood suddenly ran cold and my heart stopped in my chest as I heard a familiar voice speak to me over the open comm line, "A miss... as expected. But a lucky shot would be boring."

It was Mihaly! Mr. X had finally joined the battle but this time, things were different. The Erusean ace had given up his Su-30 in favor of an unusual fighter resembling an X-02 Wyvern. As the menacing orange paint of Sol 1 lit up like fire in the late day light, the rays of the sun glinted off the large energy cannon that had been mounted to the bottom of the experimental fighter. It looked like Mihaly was armed to the teeth and ready for an all out fight, and I was ready to oblige him.

"No way... is that really Mr. X?" Huxian asked with a mixture of awe and fear in her voice.

Mihaly ignored her and continued to roar closer onto the battlefield. He addressed the remaining members of Sol Squadron as they moved to join him.

"This aircraft will be enough. Your duty to me is over Sol Squadron. You must find your own sky now."

Wit blinked in shock and confusion, "What? No! We can still help you here Colonel!"

Sol 1 spoke in his low even voice and sounded like he was shaking his head, "Don't waste your life here Wit. Dedicate it to reclaiming that which you call home. When you do, you must find someone else to guide you... I am not that person."

Wit choked back some emotion in his voice as he angled his plane away and spoke to the remaining Erusean fighters, "Mihaly... All remaining Voslagian fighters, prepare to fall back and retreat. Those allies below are advised to withdraw too. Do not die. As long as we live, our hopes and dreams will carry on."

As Sol Squadron pulled away and withdrew from the airspace, Mihaly neared and prepared to meet Strider Squadron by himself. Count was the first to speak up "Hey! Look at the color of that plane!"

"Those are the flames of hell!" Jaeger chimed in as he felt his muscles tense for a fight.

"After what that bastard did to Wiseman, it's time for a little payback!" Count snarled angrily, "Let's get him!"

As Strider Squadron closed in around them, they experienced a minor sonic shockwave which briefly scrambled their targeting sensors and threw off their missile lock capabilities.

Huxian gave a dismayed grunt as she steered clear of the Wyvern, "Argh! Negative! I can't get close enough. There's some kind of jamming field... maybe a high powered ECM?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Lanza groaned as he rolled clear as well.

Jaeger ground his teeth and gave a nod as I swept in to engage Mihaly, "Everyone, leave it to Trigger, the rest of us will just get in the way."

"Roger that," Count answered taking command of the rest of the squadron, "Striders, form a perimeter and make sure nothing else slips though."

As my wingmates fanned out and closed off the rest of the airspace, I rushed at Mihaly as his Wyvern cut back at a steep angle and sliced through the air to meet me. I tried to lock on with my missiles but found my targeting sensors start to falter. I fired a heatseeker as he came at me head-on but the projectile veered wide and I was forced to dive out of the way as Mihaly rolled by. Huxian was right. That Wyvern must have been equipped with some kind of ECM jammer too.

"I'm here to end this today Three Strikes. No more running," Mihaly said solemnly as he changed direction and gave chase. I punched my thrusters and wove around some nearby clouds to try and lose him but he pursued with an aggressive deadly determination. My radar lock warning was already blaring and he fired two staggered missiles after me as I rolled evasively.

"This is more than just a battle of aces," Mihaly said as I made a steep climb and deployed some chaff and flares to scatter the offending missiles, "This is about the past and the future and we'll see who determines it... a demon from Osea or an archangel of Erusea."

Before Mihaly could open up with his guns, I pulled a high G turn and tried to shake him with a flat spin which barely worked to get an edge on my veteran enemy. Instead of firing another missile, I opened up with my own guns and drew first blood as a few bullets deflected off Mihaly's hull. To my surprise, he spun through them and the damage (if any) was extremely minor and superficial.

"Look at that! That bastard's moving in a way that minimizes damage, even when he's hit?" Count gasped in shock as he watched the duel play out.

Huxian watched intently and seemed intent to call for more blood, "Come on! Let em have it Trigger! Blow him to pieces!"

Mihaly abruptely changed speed and shook me off with a stall maneuver before trying to hit me with a short burst of his energy cannon. The shot went wide, but I could feel the air rattle around me and I evaded the beam before looping around to set up a new attack. I changed weapons and surprised Mihaly this time by firing several bursts of my own pulse cannon and the blue laser bolts seared the air causing the Wyvern to tumble fee just in time to avoid damage.

The old Erusean ace almost seemed to laugh as he spoke again, "Impressive. You're always full of surprises Three Strikes."

As I paused to let my lasers cool down, I almost got a preternatural feeling that Rosa was with me in the cockpit, her hands over mine gently restraining my fingers from pulling more on the firing triggers. I was already panting from the physical exertion of our aerial duel and I'm sure Mihaly needed a minute to catch his breath too. I spoke to him and tried to reason for a moment with my enemy, "This is your last warning Col. Shilage! Land your plane and surrender now or I swear I will kill you! Why do you insist on keeping this up? On fighting alone?"

I heard Mihaly pant and give a small chuckle, "Ironic. Aren't you dueling me alone as well Captain Richter?"

"He's not alone," Long Caster interrupted over the comms, "Look around you Shilage. His squadron hasn't left the field and he knows he can trust them to do what they have to."

Mihaly looked around and spared a thought for his granddaughters, wondering if they were safe and hoping he could continue keeping them safe. "I don't expect you to understand why I'm doing this. Perhaps a guilty conscience... and a desire to protect the future of this country... for those who would rule the land and the skies."

"There's always another way," Long Caster offered but Mihaly shook his head.

"No. Perhaps it would be best to entrust the future to pilots like Three Strikes. Let me test him then... to see if he's truly worthy."

I barely had enough time to react as Mihaly renewed his assault and came at me again with his weapons blazing. "I've sworn a solemn oath to take you down Thomas Richter. This aircraft is my body. If it is not enough, then I must put my very soul into it!"

I grimaced as I tumbled past a missile but took some glancing gunfire which raked the ventral flank of my Raptor. He pressed his attack and dropped his ECM field to quickly recharge his energy cannon, "There are pilots like you in every generation... and I have felled every last one of them."

As he pursued me through another tight high G turn, I surprised him by hitting the air brakes and somersaulting over him in a tight aileron roll. I shouted back in defiance toward my enemy, "Not yet you haven't! I'm not afraid of you Mihaly!"

Now that he dropped his ECM, I let loose a heatseeking missile at close range and struck him dead on in his left engine causing significant damage to the Wyvern. Count was the first to give a loud cheer, "All right! He got em!"

As Mihaly leveled off, I could see his Wyvern was limping along, barely staying afloat while some flames and a plume of smoke streamed from his mangled engine. Had he not been flying an advanced experimental aircraft, I doubted he'd have been able to survive a bad hit like that. I angled in and flew behind him being sure to keep some distance. I armed my pulse lasers and zeroed my aim on Mihaly for a kill-shot. This was it. I had finally defeated him and I had him at my mercy. Now he could finally answer for all the lives he had taken: for Brownie, Champ, Wiseman, and countless others. While the visceral part of me wanted to just pull the trigger and end it... I felt compelled to stay my hand just minute longer, as if trying to make a personal compromise to Rosa who wasn't in the battle but still present in spirit.

I opened the comm line again, "This is it Mihaly. Give up now and answer for your crimes."

Mihaly knew that it was over. His fighter had been crippled too badly and he now faced the prospect of either death or dishonor. He remained silent a moment and shut off his plane's warning systems. He flipped off his visor to look at the orange pink skies with his own eyes and he unfastened his oxygen mask, "Can you hear me... pilot with the Three Strikes? I want you to hear my apology... for the deaths of your countrymen, for my neglect of my people, and the ones who I most loved."

"What? I don't understand..." I said quietly.

Mihaly sighed, "Do not make the same mistakes I did Three Strikes. I succumbed to my own ego and I unleashed pure chaos upon this world... just so I could keep my wings. It seems I've failed... and that I'm no longer fit to rule over these skies. Should I fall here, I want you to make me a promise Thomas Richter."

"What is that?"

Mihaly kept his eyes fixed on the distant horizon where the light of the dying orange red sun was stating to set. "Promise me that you will put a stop to the Radicals' drone production and stop Enrico Moretti. But most of all, promise me that you will save my granddaughters so that they can live on. They'll be at the Lighthouse along with your answers."

I wasn't entirely sure what all that meant, but I nodded in agreement, "All right Shilage. You have my word."

He smiled and gave a satisfied nod, "Good. I am prepared to die a clean death now. I hope you are too, Captain."

To my shock, Mihaly accelerated out a distance and made a final Immelman turn to square up on me with his energy cannon fully charged. It looked like he wanted to settle this in one final joust and I had no other way out. I could already hear Jaeger give an alarmed shout, "Trigger! Look out!"

In a split second, I lined up my targeting crosshairs and fired a barrage of laser bolts before veering clear as Mihaly unleashed his own final attack. His beam barely missed and seared the underside of my left wing before my own laser bolts hit the Wyvern directly and vaporized it. I barely had any time to register what happened as I flew past the cloud of fire and steel. the shrapnel scraped my hull and cracked parts of my canopy before I blasted clear and free into the cold autumn skies. I immediately turned around and tried to look behind me to see if Mihaly had ejected or if I could spot a parachute. The other Striders gasped and gave delayed shouts of relief as they saw me emerge safely from harm. "Trigger! He's okay!"

"Mihaly! Where is he?" I demanded while I was still half delirious and running on pure adrenaline.

"Trigger! Hey! Take a breath buddy. It's finally over," Count said, "You got em."

I circled around and watched the contrails and smoke fade away from that final battle. The flaming remains of Mihaly's Wyvern continued to sprinkle down gently from the skies as a sort of solemn peace set in over the land of Shilage. In the blood red light of the setting sun, I could see our cargo convoy coming over the horizon to land at Shilage Castle... a castle which would now stand empty and vacant without its lord. I slumped in my cockpit chair and removed my oxygen mask trying to relax and steady my heartbeat which was still racing from the fight. As the adrenaline tapered off and my breathing steadied, I gripped my joystick with a heavy feeling in my chest. I should have been happy that I had finally shot down Mr. X and ended his reign of terror in the skies... but instead, I could only feel pangs of remorse over what I had to do just now and what was left to be done in Shilage.

Despite his many faults, I could respect Mihaly as a fellow ace fighter pilot and a worthy opponent. He had died an honorable death and tried in some way to atone for his sins. Now that I was the one left with the weight of the future upon my shoulders, I couldn't help but wonder if when the time came I was even ready and willing to face my own sins like he did.

Huxian picked up on my silence and asked hesitantly, "Tom? Hey... are you okay?"

I glanced at our incoming convoy before looking to the ruins of Shilage below. "This isn't right."

"No," Jaeger agreed, "This is war."

He was right. I had come to the realization that at a time like this, war didn't determine who was right or wrong. It only determined who was left.


	9. Hearts and Minds

_**Tyler Island Air Base, Usea**_  
_**October 25, 2019**_

Upon gathering a stockpile of food, supplies, and munitions from Castle Shilage, our joint Osean-Erusean convoy departed the duchy. Those who had remained near the castle did not put up any more of a fight after witnessing the defeat of Sol Squadron and their lord Mihaly. We left the people of Shilage with whatever food and supplies that we could. We had no desire to make them hate us any more than they already did and we believed we'd try to make the best of an already bad situation.

We went about our work and returned to base without incident. Not surprisingly, there weren't many words spoken on our flight back to Tyler Island and I was grateful for the chance to try and sort out my feelings about the events. There was still the issue of finishing off the Radicals but the things that tugged the most at me were the things Mihaly had told me. He had warned me of a drone production scheme and the danger that his granddaughters were in at the Lighthouse. The thought of returning to that place filled me with uneasiness as the last time I was there, I almost saw my entire life fall apart with the death of President Harling. As if I didn't have enough problems, I also struggled with what I was going to tell Rosa when I returned to base. I had already upset her because I couldn't promise I'd spare Mihaly in battle. It seemed that fate was strange. I had gotten my way, but now I wasn't feeling as good about it anymore.

Our convoy arrived back at Tyler Island early in the morning, maybe around 0400 and we were happy to park our aircraft as soon as we could. Even if we had returned, I knew there was going to be a lot of work left to do. Reports had to be filed, supplies had to be unloaded, and debriefs had to be given. To our surprise, Long Caster decided to postpone all that until the next morning when we got some rest. As our squadron left the hangars, I was a little dismayed at the absence of Rosa. She had stayed up to greet us when we returned from our mission at Anchorhead and while part of me still hoped to see her now, I could understand why she'd probably be in bed. It was late and she had already been unhappy about the mission as it was, even if she didn't blame us for it either. I knew I'd eventually have to confront her over that issue but for now, I'd take it one problem at a time. In this case, exhaustion and sleep deprivation were the pressing concerns and the most easily fixed.

After a long dreamless sleep, I awoke the next day and cleaned myself up before joining Tabloid, Avril, and the rest of the squadron at the HQ building for a debrief with Long Caster. We updated each other with recent news and when we got to the issue of the Lighthouse, Long Caster scratched at his mustache thoughtfully with a pensive look, "It's funny that we got this intel from Col. Shilage when we did. We had recently picked up a rogue transmission which we believe is coming from the Lighthouse itself."

"Can you verify the source?" Tabloid asked curiously but Long Caster shook his head.

"No. Whatever source is leaking information there, it's coming in small encrypted bursts of data indicating there is a drone production facility there as well as in other hidden bases within the rest of Usea. For now, we have to take that info with a grain of salt."

"Do you think it's one of the Shilage girls trying to reach us?" I asked.

Our AWACS controller could only shrug, "We can only guess right now. What we do know is that Radical Erusean forces have begun to fall back and gather around the Lighthouse."

"That's going to make things difficult if we're going to save those girls and crush the Radicals for good," Huxian pointed out, "The enemy will be protected from above by that remaining Arsenal Bird."

Long Caster nodded grimly, "Which is why we're drawing up a preliminary plan to deal with that. All of the regional Osean commanders have been coordinating with some of our Usean allies and the tentative plan is to launch a coalition strike. We still have a few old Erusean fishing ships docked here on the island which we can use to sneak troops through to the space elevator. While they attack from the ground and secure the facilities, we will launch a massed attack from the air."

"The question is, will we even have enough combined firepower to cook that bird?" Count asked, "We barely took down the last one and that was mostly because of Trigger and the Stonehenge railgun."

Long Caster raised a hand to calm him, "I understand you're feeling antsy Count so let me deal with those details instead. In the mean time just be aware, we 're going to be having more Osean aircraft flying in and gathering at Tyler Island over the next several days. Until we have further orders, Strider Squadron will remain on standby. Dismissed."

After we all stood up and saluted, we headed back out the door to wait in a state of limbo. Avril reached out and put a hand on my shoulder, "Hey Trigger. We were headed over toward the hangars to do some work on the fighters. You want to come with us?"

I thought it over a moment before shaking my head and walking off in the other direction, "Sorry Avril. Not right now. I've got a lot on my mind. I think I'm going to just... take a walk."

Avril moved to follow in concern but Tabloid took her shoulder and shook his head quietly. Although I didn't really want company at the moment, I was going to get some later anyway.

* * *

_**International Space Elevator, Usea**_

The sound of footfalls echoed within the quiet halls of the International Space Elevator's production facilities as Ionela Shilage walked them with her younger sister. The large labyrinthine place seemed much larger than it appeared and the underground complex felt like it could go on endlessly. Despite being the "guests" of Mr. Moretti and having their safety ensured, being confined to the Lighthouse seemed more like being in an open prison cell. Guards were already posted at the few critical junctions which offered entrance and escape from the ISEV grounds and Ionela had already scouted all of them. The Shilage girls were given free run of the place and Ionela decided to try and use it as a chance to find a way to escape. In order to keep Alma preoccuied, Ionela told her they were playing a game and for now it seemed to be working.

The little girl bounced her teddy bear in her arms as they walked along a corridor and stopped at an air vent, "How about there?"

Ionela wrinkled her features and shook her head with a sigh, "No. That space is a little too narrow, even for you to crawl in."

"But not Mr. Ted!" Alma insisted holding up her bear, "I'll bet he could find a way out through there."

Ionela sighed again and took her sister's hand and they walked along. As Alma hummed a tune to herself, Ionela felt pangs of despair in her heart as she wondered if there was anything she could do. She felt powerless as a prisoner here watching as evil men like Mr. Moretti and Dr. Schroeder ruined the world outside. Outside... she wondered what was going on out there, where her grandfather might be right now, or if Rosa was out there too. She wished she could find a way to contact the outside world and get help from her grandfather or Princess Rosa, but it all seemed impossible right now. Despite her misgivings, Ionela decided to keep a brave face for her sister and to carry on. After all, she came from noble blood and she was a Shilage. Her enemies could take away her freedom here, but not her pride.

As they explored deeper into the facility, Ionela couldn't help but think to herself how empty and eerie the whole place was. With the automated production facilities now churning out weapons and drones, there was not much need for people to do the work here. She had vaguely remembered that one of the functions of the space elevator was to harness energy and right now that must have been directed toward the war effort. Although she was not a pilot herself, Ionela found the thought of these lifeless drones ruling the skies to be an ugly prospect. She could only wonder what someone like her grandfather truly felt about these machines supplanting human pilots. There was no love or appreciation for the open blue heavens in those drones. There was no desire even to push beyond those limits into the stars and even to skies unknown. what a truly mad world this had become.

Finally, Ionella and Alma came to a protected lab where a strange alien looking fighter craft sat behind glass windows while cables attached to it like umbilical cords. The odd jet fighter had futuristic qualities and a very streamlined design with sharp angles and low profile engines. The girls stopped and stared in wonder at the advanced plane which looked like it had come from another planet entirely. They were startled when they heard a familiar voice speak up from behind. It was non other than Enrico Moretti. The politician ambled over calmly and adjusted his suit's tie while keeping his dark eyes fixed on the fighter, "It's a beautiful work of art, isnt' it?"

"What is it?" Ionela asked curiously as she watched some of the robotic tools work on the sinister looking vehicle.

Moretti smiled quietly, "That my dear is the herald who will end the war and bring about a new world for us all. I'd like to introduce you to the ADF-11F Raven. The world's most advanced drone fighter to date. This one I call Hugin."

Alma looked up in confusion, "You named the plane?"

Moretti gestured to it, "I did, and I named its sister Munin too."

Ionela studied the fighter as it was constructed, "I'm guessing this must be another secret project of yours?"

The politician chuckled, "Yes. Ever since we brought Dr. Schroeder in from Grunder Industries to work on our drone program. This was always the ultimate goal, to create an unstoppable squadron of fighters that would protect our skies and put down the chaos sown by the greater powers."

"Chaos to stop chaos? Like the kind you started?" Ionela challenged, "The same chaos that has torn our country apart? Which has claimed so many innocent lives? The one that has brought the wrath of the Osean Federation down on our heads?"

"A necessary sacrifice," Moretti said solemnly looking over the creation he had commissioned, "Of course... your grandfather knew all about sacrifice. It's because of him we're this close and it will be him that ensures our future once he finally kills that Osean ace you call Three Strikes."

Ionela looked on in horror piecing it all together. The data that Schroeder pushed Mihaly so hard for. His obsession with ruling the skies and defeating the Osean pilot who had captured the fascination of her own friend Rosa. It was all falling into place, as if the threats of fate had woven everyone together and brought them all into this bloody web while the horrifying endgame played out."

"You should consider yourselves quite lucky," Moretti said with a faraway look in his eyes, "You're about to witness history. Once Dr. Schroeder finishes his program and uploads the data into the systems, you will see a glorious new Erusea rise back up from the ashes."

He turned and walked away leaving the two girls watching the menacing drone fighter undergo its final construction. Ionela gripped her sister's hand protectively. This was sheer madness and the world was about to go even madder. She knew she was only one person and could only do so much so she resolved that she would so something. That all started with stopping Schroeder. She would not let him finish his work and bring the rest of the world to the brink of annihilation.

* * *

**_Tyler Island Air Base_**

The chill of late autumn had made its presence known in the air today as I made my way out toward the seaside that was located near the airbase. Unlike the steeper rockier cliffs around Cape Rainy, the coast here had more gentle sloping hills and a soft sandy beach where I could walk down and look out across the sea. The late morning skies were relatively clear and the sun glistened upon the gently rolling waves as they pounded steadily against the shoreline. I took a deep breath of the fresh salty air and exhaled as if still trying to purge myself of the events from Shilage. I huddled into my flight jacket and kept my eyes fixed on the horizon in the direction of the Lighthouse. I knew I would eventually have to return there and fight another battle. I couldn't help but wonder when and how things would happen. Things were obviously different now, but a lot more was now riding on this operation. I had been so absorbed in my own thoughts and lost in my head that I didn't hear the footsteps of someone coming down the bluff and approaching me from behind until they spoke, "Thomas? Flying solo today?"

I turned in surprise to see Princess Rosa walk up to join me on the beach. She wore a gentle look with a mixture of concern and encouragement. I gave a sheepish shrug, "Cossette... I'm sorry. I didn't even realize you were here until just now. I..."

"Wasn't expecting to see me?" she offered, "I figured you'd want some time alone first after your last mission."

I nodded, "This might sound a little silly, but I was actually a little worried you were upset and didn't want to talk to me about carrying out the mission."

"No. I understand... really. I wasn't mad at you," she said, "Why? Is there a reason I should be mad at you?"

I hesitated, "I... the others haven't told you already, have they?"

"Told me what?"

I tightened my features and remained silent for a long moment before I told Rosa all about my duel with Mihaly, about what he had revealed to me, and about his death in battle at my hands. When I finished my story, I gave her a remorseful look as she remained quiet with an enigmatic expression on her face. "Rosa... I'm sorry. I couldn't keep my promise to you and I didn't want to have to tell you about that news. I... I thought I would feel happy about finally defeating Mihaly and avenging all my fallen comrades, but the truth is... I don't feel happy about killing him. I don't know how to feel anymore. This war... it seemed so simple when we started but now, I can't make sense of this at all."

I thought Rosa would be upset. I thought maybe she would cry, or get angry and slap me but I was surprised when her features softened into an understanding look, maybe even one of pity. She stepped forward and reached out to draw me into a comforting hug. She cradled my head in her arms as if returning the favor when I had comforted her in her own moment of despair. She leaned her cheek against mine and spoke quietly into my ear, "Accept it Thomas... accept the terrible nature of this war just as I learned to. Let it help to strengthen your resolve to end it. Believe me when I say it's a good thing you feel this way."

"Why?" I choked out in mild confusion.

The princess smiled gently and hugged me closer, "The fact that you feel remorse or doubt over any of this means you haven't lost your heart."

"To what? Fight my enemies with love?"

Rosa looked up to me, "With love for those you want to protect. The way I love the people of my kingdom, or the way you love the people in your squadron..."

Her words trailed off and there was a brief silence as we looked at one another. I decided to carry on down a safer route, "Or the way Mihaly loved his granddaughters."

Rosa pulled away slightly and gave a worried look as she spared a thought for Ionela. It made her glad to hear that her friend and her sister were still alive and that they were at the Lighthouse, but it worried her that they were captive within the heart of the enemy forces. I picked up on her uneasiness and placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's okay Cossette, we'll find a way to save them. I can promise you that."

"I know you will," Rosa said with a gentle smile, "And I'll be doing my part to help as well."

"What are you talking about?" I asked in confusion.

Rosa looked me in the eyes calmly and spoke with resolution, just as I had remembered her in her old speeches, "I intend to assist in the operation and lead my people from the frontlines. If I'm going to unite all of Erusea after the war, I have to earn the trust and the respect of all its people. I have to show them I'm not afraid, just like I did against those tanks here."

"Princess, I still don't think it's a safe decision to do this," I said unhappily but she shook her head gently.

"But it's not your decision to make either," she said echoing our debate over the raiding of Shilage, except now things were mirrored, "We have to do what we need to. I hope you understand?"

I looked at her and couldn't help but give a faint wistful smile, "I can't abide the decision Rosa... but I understand."

She returned my small smile as the waves continued to gently pound the shore behind us, "Thank you Tom. And let me promise you something here. That we meet again soon after the next mission?"

"It's a promise," I said while shrugging off my flight jacket and draping it over her shoulders.

"What's this? What are you doing?" she asked in surprise.

I crossed my arms, "Making sure you keep your promise. I'm going to want my jacket back... and I don't want you to get cold out there while you're leading the troops either."

She gave a small laugh and looked back out toward the ocean enjoying the warmth and comfort of her new coat. I looked out toward the sea as well and gave a sigh, "You know Rosa... it's nice out here and I was planning to stay just a little bit longer."

"Then that's what we'll do," she said while sharing the quiet moment of companionship and reconciliation. It was one we hoped would last for as long as it possibly could and while there were probably things still left to say between us, for now this moment of peace was enough for us.

* * *

**A/N:**  
**All right squadron, we're headed into the final stretch of this series. As always, thanks again to everyone who's stuck with me this far and offered ideas, constructive criticism, jokes and memes, or just flat out love for Ace Combat. One more quick announcement here too. I will be putting this series on a brief break for about a week or so due to a coming business trip in real life. I promise we'll get back in the air very soon so thanks as always for the support everyone! Until then!**


	10. Reflections

**_Tyler Island Air Base, Usea_**  
**_October 30, 2019_**

It was a cold autumn morning as the golden sunlight filtered in from the glass of the large hangar windows. The base's ground crews were already busy doing work on the F-22 fighters of Strider Squadron as well as the other allied aircraft which were gathering at the base. We had already taken in a few small flights of fellow Oseans who had been operating closer to Farbanti along with a number of fighters from some allied Usean states in the region. It was clear that our senior commanders were planning for a major operation, except the rest of us didn't know when or how yet. All of us were eager to launch an offensive on the International Space Elevator and crush the Erusean Radicals for good, but we knew that if we went for a knockout blow, we'd have to do it right.

I knew that a number of allied Erusean troops had already launched from some captured ships on the island and were making their way toward the Lighthouse. I knew Rosa had gone off to help encourage her people from the frontline and I couldn't help but worry for her, along with Tabloid and Avril who had volunteered to keep her safe again. I had no doubt they would, especially since Avril had struck up a little bit of a friendship with the princess as well.

In the mean time, those of us in Strider Squadron decided to distract ourselves from our restlessness by doing more combat prep. On that morning, I supervised one of the base's ground crews as they did maintenance work on the squadron's F-22s. I took some time to check my own aircraft and touch up the repairs made after my recent duel with Mihaly Shilage. It was at a time like this I realized I had been a little spoiled. The ground crew's work here had been good, but still not as good as Avril's. I never had to worry when I knew that she was working on my planes because she kept them in tip top shape and didn't settle for anything less. I'm sure part of it was her own pride and perfectionism in her work, but I also like to think that she always put extra work into Count and my planes because she wanted to keep us safe. I know she wanted us to have every edge we could muster in battle.

I gave a mild sigh to myself as I began to wipe down the canopy of my Raptor when I heard Huxian's voice call out from below, "Hey Trigger! Do you have a minute?"

"What is it Lin?" I said with my back still turned.

She gave a smile and waited with her hands on her hips, "You've got some very important visitors here to see you."

I slid down the ladder and turned around to meet Huxian along with two older men. My eyes went wide in shock and I felt my heart skip a beat as I recognized the commanders of my old fighter wing. "Clown? Knocker? I… what are you guys doing here?"

The leaders of Mage and Golem Squadrons stepped forward with broad smiles as they extended their hands and greeted me. My old squadron leader Clown clasped my hand and gave it a firm shake, "The same as you. We're here to end the war. It's good to see you again kid."

"Likewise sir," I grinned before I shook hands with Knocker next. The stoic blond leader of Golem Squadron graced me with a rare grin.

"I'll be damned Clown, our little hatchling's all grown up. We let him alone for a couple months and now he's a wing commander with captain bars on his collar."

Clown put a hand on my shoulder and regarded me like a proud parent would their child. He wasn't all that much older than I was, but he had always been a supportive mentor to me during my time in Mage Squadron. I had missed his reassuring presence on the battlefield and if I was being honest, I even missed Knocker's stern warnings about being disciplined and not being a show off. If anything, it was a little odd for me to be considered one of their peers now.

"We heard about your stint in the 444 and couldn't believe it when we heard about McKinsey too," Clown said with a teasing smile, "But considering how much trouble you get yourself into, I guess we shouldn't have been surprised."

"From what we've heard, you've had quite an adventure these last several months," Knocker noted, "It's hard to believe we're now working alongside our former enemies and now their princess has become an ally too?"

"I know it all sounds a bit crazy, but that's the truth," I admitted sheepishly, "If you guys are taking part in the next operation, I'm just glad I'm going to be able to fly with you again."

Clown scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Well, it'll be a little while yet since our official orders come in. If you've got some time to spare, we were hoping you could catch up and tell us all about your adventures. What do you say Trigger?"

Huxian patted me on the shoulder, "Why don't you go catch up for a little while with your old wingmates? I'll look after things here."

I gave a grateful smile to her and led my old flight leaders from the hangars, "Thanks Lin. Fair warning though, I might be a while. I know the guys and I will have a lot to talk about."

* * *

**_Spring Sea, en route to Gunther Bay  
October 31, 2019  
_**

Early the next morning, the transport ship that was carrying a number of allied troops to the Lighthouse continued to make its way across the waters as the sun began to peek over the dark horizon. Avril Mead awoke in her small quarters that she shared with Rosa and she flipped on the lights before groggily looked around. To her surprise, she saw that Rosa was absent from the room. Perhaps the princess had been restless, or maybe she went to get some early breakfast? Avril gave a sigh and dressed in some warm clothes before leaving the room to look around. She could understand if Rosa was feeling restless. There was a lot riding on this next mission and everyone was putting pressure on themselves. Her younger friend had already been grateful that she and Tabloid had come along to help. While the princess could now claim to have little taste of battlefield experience, she was still far from her element.

Avril gave a yawn and headed toward the warmth of the ship's galley and found a few people already awake. At a nearby table, she found Tabloid sitting with a cup of coffee and an old newspaper. As she came over, he looked up in surprise and greeted her with a tired smile, "Avril. Hey. You couldn't sleep either, huh?"

"Something like that," she replied sitting down with him. He poured her a cup of hot coffee and handed it to her, before she continued, "I was also looking for Rosa. You haven't seen her, have you?"

He gave a nod and idly scanned a few headlines of the paper, "Briefly. I think she headed up to the top deck to get some air. She seemed a little preoccupied about everything coming up."

"How about you?" Avril asked, "How are you holding up?"

"Just doing what I can to keep myself distracted," he said with a faint smile as he put the paper down, "I figured I'd do a little light reading."

"Those current events look like they're a couple weeks old," Avril noted observing the date of the newspaper, "Pretty crazy to think we're actually doing this, huh? Laying siege to the space elevator?"

Tabloid leaned back in his chair and took a swig of coffee, "Even crazier to imagine we volunteered for it."

"Someone's got to look after the princess," Avril pointed out, "Don't you think?"

Tabloid chuckled, "Ah. I knew you cared. You're just a big softie after all."

Avril gave a sigh and rolled her eyes before she fixed him with a pointed look, "Hey Steven... can I ask you something? Back on Tyler Island, you said you had something important to tell me when we had a minute."

"Oh... right," Tabloid said shifting uncomfortably. He tried to think of a way to put it before giving a quiet sigh to himself, "_Das leben ist kein ponyhof_."

Avril raised an eyebrow in confusion. Was he just speaking in Belkan? "What?"

Tabloid grimaced, "I was just remembering an old expression from my folks. I means life is not a pony-farm... that it's not easy. I guess that's one way to get that secret out there."

Avril frowned, "What? That you can speak Belkan? Or that... wait! Back at the island with Georg! The concentration camps! It's all starting to make sense now. But you're Osean, aren't you?"

"I am," he answered, "But both my parents were originally from Belka, so…"

"You never told me that!" Avril exclaimed in shock, "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"I did. I only told Trigger but with the way things were going on Tyler Island, I thought it would be dangerous at the time, and that it might put you in danger too," Tabloid admitted. "I didn't want that to happen."

"Well why not when things started calming down? You were embarrassed?" Avril asked, "You didn't trust me?"

"No... it's not that. I was worried about how the rest of you would react, or if you'd think of me any differently," he admitted.

Avril looked him over curiously, "Why? Is it because of all those things people say about Belkans being known for their conspiracies?"

Tabloid snorted, "That's just a stereotype and you know it. You said you didn't trust Belkans before and I was worried that fact might hurt our friendship. I didn't want you think any less of me for it because... well, I wanted to tell you that our friendship means a lot to me. That's part of the reason why I'm here with you on this mission Avril."

Avril blinked in surprise listening to Tabloid's frank admission, "Steve... I don't know what to say. I care about you too and I don't think you're a bad guy or anything. I just... I wish you would have told me sooner."

"I'm sorry about that," he admitted as he reached out to take her hand, "But for now, let's just leave it at that. There's one other thing I'd like to say right now, but we should probably wait until after this war is over. Don't you think?"

Avril gave another quiet nod and remained sitting before Tabloid gave her hand a gentle squeeze and left the table. She had a feeling she knew what he was getting at, but Tabloid was also right. They could talk about that later. Right now, there were other more important things to worry about. Avril took a breath and left the galley to head to the top deck. Perhaps she'd join Rosa after all. After a talk like that, she probably needed some fresh air too.

* * *

Once she reached to top deck of the ship, Avril stepped out into the darkness of the cold autumn dawn. She shivered slightly and noticed that she could see her breath in the dim light of the sun as it began to appear in the distant eastern skies. The deck was quiet and there were few people about as Avril strode down the length of the ship. Eventually, she came across the person she was looking for, sitting on a small bench by herself. Avril smiled quietly at the sight of Princess Rosa huddled in a green airman's flight jacket. Judging by the patches and unit markings on the shoulder, there was no doubt it belonged to Trigger. As she approached, Avril noticed Rosa was looking at something in her hand which appeared to be a folded piece of paper.

"Morning Cossette. You're up early" Avril noted as she came to join her on the bench, "You mind some company?"

Rosa jumped in surprise and turned to see her visitor, "Oh! Avril. I'm sorry I didn't see you just now. I was just... lost in thought."

"I can see," Avril said glancing at the paper in Rosa's hands, "What's that?"

Rosa's cheeks flushed slightly as she handed the paper to Avril and saw that it was a folded up picture of herself from an old magazine. "I... uh, found that in one of the pocket's of Tom's coat."

Avril smiled and began to laugh, "Oh, this is great! I'm never going to let Trigger live this down."

She paused a moment to settle down before handing the picture back to Rosa with an amused smile, "I should probably explain this, Princess. That picture was given to Trigger as a joke from the other guys during his time in the penal unit. That dumbass claims that this picture of you is a good luck charm and has helped him survive several battles, so he always keeps it on him."

"Oh... I see," Rosa said with a slightly bemused smile, "I guess I should be flattered. I had no idea he thought of me that way."

"Trust me Your Highness, I know Tom has a lot of respect and thinks very highly of you. If he didn't, he wouldn't have offered a friendly hand to you when you first joined us, or gotten us to see that you weren't so bad either."

"I suppose you're right," Rosa nodded quietly while putting the picture away in a pocket, "If I can be honest... I think very highly of Thomas too. For one thing, he's helped to change my mind a lot about you Oseans. I admit I haven't quite met anyone like him before."

The younger princess seemed a little sheepish from her own glowing admiration of the pilot and she decided to leave it at that. Avril smiled and decided not to tease her any more about it. After all, she had just had a similar kind of discussion with Tabloid earlier and was in no position to give Rosa a hard time. Avril decided to change the subject and got up to slowly amble out toward the railing on the deck. In the far distance, she could see the silhouette of the Lighthouse tower over the horizon. From there, the majestic structure seemed to connect the earth to the very heavens themselves.

Avril gave a sigh, "Take a look at that. It looks like a singe rope hanging down from the sky. Do you know how far the end of that rope reaches?"

Rosa looked out over the horizon to see the shape of the Lighthouse which was several hours away by boat. As she fixed her eyes on it, her expression grew much darker and more somber. After a long pause, she answered Avril's question, "Outer space."

"And at the end of that rope is limitless potential for mankind itself… at least it was until this stupid war erupted," Avril mused thoughtfully.

Rosa wrung her hands slightly and continued to look at the approaching structure, almost with an expression of dread and remorse. After another long pause, the princess spoke up in a solemn voice, "That's the other thing I came out here to think about. Because I believe that rope might be connected to a very faraway source of conflict and strife. Even before the war, the whole world was falling apart while President Harling was trying to rebuild it. I often wondered… what was going though Harling's mind when he was trying to destroy the very thing that so many people were sacrificed in order to create?"

Avril turned slowly, surprised by the sudden change in the tone of their conversation. "Hmm, that's not the way I heard it. What I heard was that Harling sacrificed himself to protect the tower from an incoming missile."

Rosa stood up and joined her female comrade at the railing to look out over the dark sea ahead of them, "Oh? I was told he tried to fly his aircraft into the tower to destroy it."

The sounds of the waves pounded gently against the sides of the boat as they continued steaming along. Avril gave a thoughtful sigh, "Then I wonder which story is true, Your Royal Highness."

"I don't know," Rosa admitted honestly with a shrug.

"When it comes to which story you perceive, I guess it's sort of like a mirror, isn't it?" Avril asked. She normally wasn't one to get all deep and philosophical, but given the circumstances, the comparison seemed apt.

"Yes... I suppose it does," Rosa said quietly, "One that reflects your values, your culture, and the things within your soul. But at the moment, the only thing I can see is darkness."

She paused as Avril turned and looked at Rosa. The younger woman wore a slightly distraught look on her face while she looked back up toward the horizon, "Right now, that tower is the source of all this chaos, misery, and death. I think that thing should be destroyed."

Avril remained silent and simply stood beside Rosa watching as the sun continued to rise. In several hours, they would be arriving near Gunther Bay. For now, there was nothing left for Avril to say, but she made a mental note to send one more message later, one she hoped would resonate with all those who would hear it.

* * *

**_Tyler Island Air Base, Usea  
_****_October 31, 2019_**

Early that morning, the joint air forces of Osea and our Erusean allies gathered at the base's HQ for an important briefing. We had all been expecting a meeting like this, just not so early. I gave a small yawn and gave some morning greetings as I took a seat with Clown and Knocker to one side of me while Count and Huxian took seats on my other wing. With the added numbers of pilots, the briefing room felt a little more cramped and the senior officers who were present all seemed a little more on edge than usual. Long Caster marched up to the main display board at the front of the room and called us all to order as the lights began to dim.

"All right, let's get the briefing started. A little while ago we received some communications via the partially restored general network. This is what it contained. As predicted, the Erusean Radicals have gathered around the space elevator. One of its many functions is that of a source of energy. Give the warmongers a powerful energy source and you provide them the luxury to keep on fighting a war. As you can see today, people from Osea, Usea, and Erusea have all joined forces to stop this dangerous faction and more should be arriving in time. The primary objective of our coalition fighter group will be to establish air superiority around Gunther Bay and take down the last Arsenal Bird in a massive saturation attack from the air and sea. While we do that, our ground forces hidden on the captured Erusean boats will secure the space elevator from the Radical aggressors."

Count raised a hand, "These communications you were talking about... have the sources been verified? They could be fake."

Long Caster almost smiled as he displayed one such communique, "I'll let you be the judge of that Lt. Morris. One such message we got was one I believe was meant for you and Trigger. Take a look at what's written at the end: Hey dumbass, if you want to bring the world back from the brink, come to the Lighthouse already. You can see the future there."

Huxian couldn't help but laugh quietly, "Dumbass, eh? That sounds awfully familiar."

"It certainly does," I agreed with a grim smile. Right now my thoughts were focused squarely on Tabloid, Avril, and Rosa. "Our friends are going to be headed right into the teeth of that storm and they're going to need our protection from above. Right now, I'm thinking we go roast that damn Arsenal Bird. Who's with me?"

I could hear several other Oseans voice some spirited agreement while all of the pilots from Strider Squadron added some very vocal support for the idea as well.

Long Caster nodded slowly and looked up to the room of fired up pilots, "Then it looks like we're all on the same page. It's time to fly guys and most importantly, it's time to end this war. Good luck pilots. We're all going to need it today!"


	11. Zero Hour

_**International Space Elevator, Gunther Bay**_  
_**October 31, 2019**_

As the sun lit up the bright blue skies, our large coalition fighter group took off from Tyler Island and roared across the sea to carry out the operation against the last of our Erusean enemies at the Lighthouse. Our allies on the disguised ships attacking from the ground had imposed radio silence and we knew they would be slightly ahead of us by the time we arrived in the airspace of Gunther Bay. From my vantage point near the front of the massive formation, I could see the distant colossal space elevator dominating the skyline. As we continued to get closer, I scanned the area around us and took some time to notice some of the smaller details that I hadn't been able to when I first carried out a fateful mission here many months ago.

The white cloud banks around the area were puffy and bright as they were lit up by the bright sun above. The ocean waters also sparkled with the sunlight and gave off a tranquil blue aura which drew the eye. Despite the serious battle we were all headed into, I couldn't help but wonder just how beautiful and relaxing it would be to visit this place during peacetime. I wondered if I could return here to pay some proper respects to President Harling when the war was over. I hoped my friends would be able to come with me; Count, Tabloid, Avril... and even Rosa.

My idle thoughts were pulled back to the task at hand when I heard Lanza radio our squadron, "Well everyone, we picked a good day for a battle. We could do a little trick-or-treating at the Lighthouse today."

Jaeger chuckled gently, "I'm just wondering what treat I'm going to give the Radicals, a missile or one of these new laser blasters that our whole squadron was equipped with."

"That's something," Huxian smirked in agreement, "I guess you're not the only one packing a new super weapon anymore, huh Trigger?"

"I think I can live with that," I replied with a smile as I flipped my visor down on my helmet and prepared for battle. New radar returns were coming in and I could see the troop carrier ships in the distance landing on the main island where the Lighthouse stood. On our squadron's flanks I signaled Clown and Knocker to shift into an attack formation as we neared the objective. "Strider Squadron, form up and adjust your speed. Flight leaders, stand by for the green signal from command."

"Mage Squadron acknowledges. Standing by," Clown answered followed by Knocker.

"Golem Squadron acknowledges. Standing by."

I could see the other Osean and Erusean flights in our group follow suit and we spread out into an impressive united front. In the far distance, our sensors picked up several squadrons of enemy fighters which were now marked as hostile bandits. From the west, another small cloud of fighters approached but they looked to be allied fighters made up of our Usean allies. This was shaping up to be a massive air battle which would no doubt get very messy very quickly. We picked up a transmission from our approaching allies, "Well if it isn't the LRSSG. And they brought some friends. Looks like our luck has turned."

Long Caster chimed in as we began to throttle up and arm our weapons, "LRSSG, your first objective is to secure air superiority here. There are other Erusean aircraft in the coalition so they'll be ID'd as friendly via the data link. Erusean Radical aircraft and their drones will be marked as hostiles."

"Trigger, I think it's time that an ace like you should show us what you've got," Knocker said grimly.

"He's not the only ace here, sir." Count interjected with a slight defensiveness in his voice.

Long Caster voiced calm agreement, "That's quite true Count. Wiseman trained his fighter wing well. By my tally, everyone still in it is an ace and I know he'd be proud of you all."

We all smiled at the encouragement from our controller and the invocation of our fallen wing commander. He was right. We were determined to fight hard today to prove Long Caster right and to make Wiseman proud of us. As the fighters of the Erusean Radicals and their drone escorts neared, I began to line up my first shot when we got the go-ahead from HQ. "All right Striders, let's take it to em! Strider 1, engaging!"

The calls from my squadmates came in like a beautiful chorus as the ferocious air battle commenced around us, "Strider 2, engaging! Strider 3, engaging! Strider 4, engaging! Strider 5 engaging!"

* * *

Meanwhile down below, the disguised transport ships carrying allied troops docked along the shores of the space elevator and deployed their people. Several platoons of Osean and Erusean soldiers rushed off the boats followed by Tabloid, Avril, and Rosa. The invasion party rushed up the docks and toward the central island where the Lighthouse itself was anchored. As they hurried up the path, the three stopped to look up in the skies as the sounds of roaring engines and screaming fighter planes filled the air. Several explosions lit up the skies and sounded like fireworks, only they came from chaff, flares, and exploding planes. Smoke contrails of missiles streaked in wild arcs like erratic skywriters while the chaotic aerial melee ensued. From the ground, Rosa could only stare in wonder. It looked as if the heavens were being split apart and legions of winged angels were now fighting and killing each other above. She could only wonder where Trigger was in that battle and pray that he would stay out of harm's way.

She felt Avril grab her arm and pull her down abruptly, "Cossette! Get down!"

Several troops of the landing party took cover and opened fire with their assault rifles as they came across Radical troops guarding the entrances to the space elevator. Tabloid fired off a few shots as the ground battle now erupted. Rosa kept her head down under a low concrete wall and shouted, "What's going on?"

"Radical troops ahead. There aren't too many, but they're well entrenched," Avril reported, "Damn!"

As more gunfire lit up the area and stray bullets raked the ground, Tabloid shouted over, "I see a way forward but we need to blast an enemy position. We can flank them, but we need grenades."

Avril turned to one of the nearby Osean soldiers and pulled his sleeve, "Hey. Spare a grenade or two?"

He was too busy firing his gun so he gave a hurried nod and gestured to his hip pouch. Avril grabbed a pair of explosives and nodded to Tabloid before handing one grenade to Rosa. "Let's go Princess."

Tabloid led the way and laid down some suppressing fire from his gun. Although he was slowed by his leg injury, he was still able to shuffle forward quickly enough with his leg brace. The few seconds were enough for him to find another cover spot for Avril and Rosa to join him near the Radical battle line. If they could break through this fenced area, they could get through to the Lighthouse complex itself. He pointed out the location of some Radical soldiers before Avril pulled the pin on her grenade and gestured for Rosa to do the same, "Okay Cossette, toss that thing like you did that smoke canister! Now!"

They hurled their grenades over the fences and placed them perfectly in the Radical line. The explosives went off and silenced the position allowing the allied troops to move ahead safely. Avril grinned and pulled Rosa forward with the rest of them, "All right! Nice arm, Princess! Perfect shot!"

Rosa blinked and felt slightly sick at the thought of what she had just done. She had just helped kill some more people, this time by her own hand. She knew that they were the enemy and that there was no other choice, but it still weighed on her. For now, she had to focus on keeping up and rescuing her friends Ionela and Alma who where still trapped somewhere inside by the traitorous Enrico Moretti. As the battle continued to rage outside between the Radical troops and the coalition forces, Rosa and the others forced their way inside the main building and found the place strangely empty. An almost eerie quiet hung over the building as no one else seemed to be left inside. As they headed deeper inside, they stopped at the central lobby and found a very odd sight. A little brunette girl with a teddy bear sat by a large mural which hung on the wall. She looked very troubled and frightened when she turned around to regard the new arrivals.

Her eyes went wide when she saw Rosa and the princess stopped in her tracks with equal shock. "Alma? Oh my God... is that really you?"

The little girl rushed over and hugged the princess tightly giving only a fearful whimper. Rosa took a moment to stare at the mural in front of her while she comforted the girl, "Shh. It's okay. You're safe now. I brought some friends and they're here to help."

Taboid and Avril exchanged a curious look before Rosa gently touched the little girl's cheek, "Alma? Are you okay? Where is your sister?"

Without saying a word, Alma took Rosa by the hand and led her down a hallway deeper inside. Avril took up the small assault rifle she carried and flipped off the safety, "I don't like the look of this. Are you good Tabloid?"

"Let's do this," he said grimly as he stepped forward to lead the way. He wasn't about to let any harm come to the girls here. If Trigger and Count were out there right now risking their necks in the skies to keep them safe, then he would serve in his own way and do his part down here.

* * *

Deeper inside the complex, Enrico Moretti stood with his aide Abigail DuMorne and a few other guards as they supervised Dr. Schroeder in the test lab. Also present was Ionela Shilage who stood off in the corner of the room. She was deathly silent and wore a look of pure venom. The leader of the Erusean Radicals ignored her and shifted in eager anticipation as the scientist keyed in the last few bits of code into a computer console. On the other side of the thick glass windows, one of the advanced prototype ADF-11F Raven drones named Hugin sat fresh off the assembly line. Moretti knew there was a major battle now being waged outside of the Lighthouse and while he was concerned with coalition forces closing in, he had high hopes for this new weapon to save them all. "Well Doctor?"

"It's complete. I've uploaded the last of the programming," Schroeder said. "The drone should be completely ready for battle."

"Excellent!" Moretti smiled gleefully as Ionela finally broke her silence and furiously strode past the dark featured politician.

"Doctor! How could you? Don't do this!"

Schroeder shook his head and looked away slightly, "I'm sorry Miss Shilage. But there's a reason I can't do that. Mr. Moretti? Would you care for a quick demonstration of your new weapon?"

"I would be delighted Doctor," he answered happily. "At last... all my efforts have finally come to fruition!"

Schroeder turned back to the console and began to type in a few commands while Ionela forcefully tried to pull his arm away, "Damn you Dr. Schroeder! You can't do this! You're a traitor!"

"Miss Shilage, please step back and get down!" the doctor said as he typed the last code and forcefully pulled her to the ground.

To the surprise of everyone else, the drone fighter activated and a red ocular light appeared where the cockpit was, indicating the presence of the modified but deadly artificial intelligence Z.O.E. The Raven activated its high powered machine gun weapon and armed it in a split second. Moretti's eyes went wide in shock as he realized what was happening. The Belkan doctor had indeed finished his killer robot, but had now turned it against him too. He only had a few seconds to realize the treachery before the drone opened fire and sprayed the inner lab with several bursts of machine gun fire. The heavy glass shattered as Moretti and his associates were caught in the surprise hail of gunfire and torn apart by it. Two of the bodyguards were reduced to clouds of pulpy red mist while Moretti was mangled and Abigail was dropped by several glancing bullets and some glass shrapnel.

Once the carnage had passed, the conveyor belt moved and automatically transported the drone away. It was now autonomous and moved to deploy itself and its sister aircraft Munin in its task to eradicate all threats to the nearby airspace. When Schroeder had been programming the instructions, he had only accounted for the Radical fighters in the area. He had not planned on the Oseans and Eruseans launching a combined attack. Schroeder gasped in relief as he shifted away from where he had been shielding Ionela from the danger. Instead she shoved him and knocked him over against the wall. The girl walked past the shredded walls and windows which were now covered in blood and broken glass to where Abigail lay dead on the ground.

Moretti's bodyguard had half pulled out her pistol but it was all for nothing as she had already bled out now. Ionela took the pistol, flipped the safety off and stood over Schroeder. She raised the gun and aimed it directly at his head wearing a look of silent fury. Schroeder stared in shock at her before taking a deep breath and nodding. He understood what this was all about. He had done his own share of evil, made Mihaly suffer, and created these monstrous drones which only added to the war's death and destruction. He had thought he could do some penance by betraying Moretti, but it seemed it wasn't enough. Even he had to pay for his own crimes and if it was at the hands of this valkyrie before him, then he would accept his fate.

At that moment, the door burst open as Rosa and the others came in and froze at the sight before them. Avril covered the eyes of Alma and pulled her away from the bloody mess of Moretti and his men while Tabloid half raised his gun. Rosa stood staring in horror at the dead traitors before her and at the sight of Ionela moments from executing Dr. Schroeder in cold blood. She called out, "Ionela! It's me, Rosa! Please stop this! We're here to help!"

"Stay out of this Cossette!" Ionela snarled angrily, "The best way to help me is to stay back!"

"Ionela! I'm begging you, don't do this!" Rosa insisted, "This isn't who you are! Look around you! Hasn't there been enough violence and killing already?"

She knew it was hypocritical coming from her, but at that moment she had to try something to diffuse the situation. Ionela paused for a long moment before shifting her aim and pulling the trigger. Everyone jumped as she fired at the computer console where Mihaly's data drive was plugged in. She turned and fired again at Schroeder but to everyone's surprise, she aimed wide and shot the wall near his head. A smoking crater was left in the wall as Schroeder sat in wide eyed confusion, not expecting that he would be spared. Ionela lowered the pistol and tossed the gun aside. "If I killed you, I'd just end up like everyone else here."

Her words hung heavy condemning everyone else in the room save for her little sister. Ionela turned and regarded Schroeder coldly, "Tell me Doctor... was this for Belka? Or for Erusea? My grandfather had only one wish... to continue soaring through the endless skies. That was the only place where he felt truly alive. But now? I don't even have a country to call home, let alone the sky. The black forest, the lake... they are no longer mine. Even though those lands were once cherished by my late mother. You've helped bring nothing but death and misery to everyone around you and I can't help but curse myself... for not being weak enough... to be able to take the easy way out and punish you like I want."

After her impassioned speech, Ionela began to break down and weep bitterly as her younger sister came over to comfort her. Schroeder gave a deflated sigh and leaned limply against the wall while Rosa stood in silence, dumbfounded by the drama that played out in front of her. Fortunately, Avril and Tabloid had the presence of mind to stay focused on the mission. Avril went over to the computer and toyed with it for a minute before looking up, "I checked the computer. All of the data on the ruined drive is gone."

Schroeder shook his head, "No. There are two special drone aircraft, deadly prototypes which are now carrying the programming of an ace pilot. Those were already manufactured with that data."

"Then we have to destroy the factory before more can be made," Tabloid said with a dark frown.

"Yes, but this isn't the only one," Schroeder explained, "There are more facilities like this one and they can manufacture aircraft just like those two prototypes."

Avril paused and gave a thoughtful look, "Hmm, this place runs on solar power that the space elevator generates, right? What about the other facilities? If we can destroy the space elevator, we can cut the energy and communication lines to the other factories. Let's start by taking this one out."

"Okay. I'll show you what you have to do," Schroeder nodded weakly as he rose to his feet and adjusted his glasses. Before the shaken scientist could go over to assist Avril and Tabloid at the control panel, he noticed Rosa staring at him from across the room. The princess had a haunted look on her face and she approached slowly without looking away. Schroeder regarded her curiously and tilted his head slightly, "Princess Rosa?"

She looked to him quietly for a long moment before speaking in a thoughtful tone, "I wonder, Doctor..."

"Wonder what?" he asked.

"I wonder what path you would have chosen when looking into Harling's Mirror."

* * *

Meanwhile, the skies outside the space elevator had become a chaotic storm of missiles, explosions, and fighter jets. I raced through the storm and buzzed past a Usean Gripen before making a tight banking turn to go after a pair of enemy drone fighters. They looked to be F-18 Hornets, much like some of the other drones we had fought before disguised in Osean colors. Having flown a Hornet myself, I knew their capabilities as I angled in and chose a line of pursuit. The drone fighters took evasive action and began to dive but I rolled into the dive and stayed with them, gaining speed and ground with the Raptor's superior design. I locked up one of the Hornets with my radar and sent a heatseeker after it, watching as the missile followed the angle perfectly and blasted the drone to pieces. I shifted gears and changed speed to go after the other Hornet, lining up another shot but this time arming my laser cannons. I fired several bursts and the blue laser bolts streaked out, shearing off the wing of the bandit and igniting the engines to reduce it to a fireball in the sky.

No sooner had I scored my second kill, a flaming enemy Flanker streaked past me at twelve-o-clock high barely hitting me while an allied Erusean Flanker went after that one to finish it off. Things were getting a little hectic up here and while the coalition forces were working well together, there were still a lot of targets. Huxian flew up beside me and tried to catch her breath, "There's just no end to these guys, Strider Leader."

"You've got that right. Good news is, more allied aircraft inbound," I noted while looking out across the blue skies and waters.

"This is Skoll Squadron and Rigel Squadron of the Erusean Air Force. We're here of our own volition," came their transmission, "Long Caster, we are entering your airspace."

I recognized another voice that joined in with a small flight of familiar orange colored Flankers too, "This is Sol 2. The Republic of Voslage's Sol Squadron is also moving to rendezvous."

Count downed an enemy fighter and turned his head to view the new arrivals in bemusement, "Hey! It's Mr. X's crew!"

"Count, ease up. They're on our side now, remember?" Long Caster reminded him.

Strider 2 rejoined our formation and moved to attack a fresh flight of enemy bandits, "Don't worry. I know. We're going to need every bird we can call upon... even if they were flying with the guy who killed Wiseman."

I couldn't help but smile a little. After all the battles I had flown with Count during this war, he had really matured and grown. I was pleasantly surprised to see him showing more focus, control, leadership as my squadron's number two and it was clear he earned it. I didn't have a lot of time to ponder it any more as an enemy got a quick lock and fired a missile directly at my tail. I juked from side to side and spun evasively before scattering some flares to throw off the projectile.

Strider Squadron clashed with a new wave of enemy drones and I pulled my Raptor into a quick climb before executing a stall maneuver to go after a bandit. As I gunned it down with a few laser bolts, a few allied Eruseans took notice and I laughed in spite of myself when I briefly picked up their radio chatter. "Three Strikes is on our side now? That's the best news I've heard in a long time!"

"Flying against Three Strikes? Uh-uh. Never again," his fearful wingman agreed.

While the air battle continued to rage against the relentless onslaught of the Radicals making their last stand, I was surprised when I picked up a transmission over the comms. It was from Avril. "Trigger? Hey! Are you guys still there?"

"Avril! Damn girl, am I glad to hear you," Count grinned as he pulled a high G turn and took down a bandit with a well placed missile.

"We've kinda got our hands full up here Avril," I said trying to concentrate on evading an incoming missile, "What's going on?"

She cleared her throat, "The ground invasion is winding down and we've secured the main tower. Tabloid and Cossette are with me and everyone is fine."

"Something tells me there's more going on," Huxian called as she gunned down an enemy fighter who was chasing Jaeger.

"Slight change of plans," Avril announced, "We're going to have to disable some parts of the space elevator. In the mean time, take a look. See that line continuing above the horizon? The cable goes up to the sky as far as the eye can see. Not many people know this, but the space elevator is the world's tallest transmission tower. In theory, it's waves cover half the globe. We've just jacked the signal to reach you guys."

I pulled my Raptor into an abrupt Pugachev cobra to get around an Erusean Radical fighter before shooting him down after recovering from the countermove, "That's all really interesting Avril but..."

She continued, "With the communication infrastructure down, this broadcast can only be transmitted to certain regions. If you can access the server, consider yourself lucky. You get to see a real live princess. Hey Cossette, say hello to everyone."

I could hear Rosa's voice and for a moment, it gave me some peace of mind. She was still okay and that very fact encouraged me that everything was going to be okay. She was caught off guard and spoke hesitantly on the open channel to the coalition forces, "Yes... uh, hello."

"Avril! What's all this about disabling the space elevator?" I demanded. I didn't mean to sound a little short but I was in the thick of a firefight and couldn't afford to get too distracted.

Tabloid grabbed the comm, "Oh... right. Uh, long story short Moretti is dead but the Radicals let loose some kind of super drone weapon. The Lighthouse is the key to powering a bunch of factories which could mass produce these monsters, as well as powering some of the Arsenal Bird's weapons."

Count, Huxian, and I all gave the same shocked exclamation at the exact same time, "WHAT?!"

"Relax Trigger, we've got this under control," Avril said trying to stay cool, "In the mean time, Tabloid, let's get the Shilage girls to safety in the underground tunnel. We'll be in touch soon."

"I don't have time for this," I grumbled incredulously to my wingmen, "Let's hope they can figure that one out."

Of course, things went from bad to worse as Long Caster spoke up over the comms, "Warning to all coalition aircraft! Missiles have been launched from the Arsenal Bird. They're Helios projectiles! Airburst type. All allied fighters, stay clear of the marked blast areas!"

"Oh shit! Not this again!" Count and Jaeger groaned together as several high speed projectiles entered the airspace and exploded into brilliant blue balls of fiery light. The large azure spheres were as bright as the sun and rocked all of Gunther Bay with their powerful shockwaves, some of which took out several enemy aircraft for us. I could already hear a cacophony of panicked shouts and curses from some of the other coalition fighters. I radioed my old squadron leader and scanned the skies for more incoming missiles.

"Mage 1, tell the rest of the wing to break and make sure any nuggets in your flight stay low out of those blasts."

"Copy that Strider 1," he answered as he pulled his squadron into an evasive dive before another round of Helios missiles bombarded us and lit up the skies around the space elevator.

* * *

Down below on the ground level lobby, Tabloid led the Shilage girls toward the safety of the underground tunnels to get them clear of the warzone while Avril studied a few blueprints of the space elevator with Rosa. Avril grimaced to herself, "As much as I wish we could take down the space elevator, it's not like we can just go out there and chop it down. At the top of the windbreak there are six location markers set in place which monitor distortions in the Lighthouse. If the sensors go bad, then the observation system will think the elevator has fallen. At that time, all microwaves will be stopped. You should get moving soon with Tabloid and the other girls."

"You're going to go it alone?" Rosa asked incredulously, "That's dangerous... and your bad leg."

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me Cossette," Avril said trying to sound more confident than she actually felt.

Rosa wrinkled her features in anguish before turning her eyes toward the mural on the wall. She noticed that the picture on the wall was one of triumph with several space elevators across the world. It was then that it began to dawn on her what it all meant... what Harling's vision for the world entailed. It was not one of Osean domination or the exploitation of Erusea after all. It was of peace and prosperity for all people benefiting from the elevators. The goal was one of a triumph for humanity and for expansion to space... toward skies unknown. It was in that moment that Rosa knew exactly what she had to do. She grabbed a small toolbox that Avril had found and she rushed from the room toward a maintenance shaft.

Avril looked up in panic and shouted, "Cossette! Hey! Where are you going? Come back here!"

Rosa turned and closed the door before locking it behind her. "I'm sorry Avril. Tabloid. Everyone."

Avril tried to open the lock but couldn't so she pounded on the heavy door giving a desperate shout, "What are you thinking? Open the door you dumbass!"

Rosa took the toolbox and headed down the shaft herself where a turbo elevator waited to take her up to the necessary location. Avril gasped and tried to figure out what to do as she heart another round of rumbling Helios missiles going off outside. It was coming in a shorter interval meaning that the Arsenal Bird was close. There wasn't any more time and she did the only thing she could think. She reached for her comm again and spoke in a voice filled with dread, "Trigger? We have a little problem here..."


	12. Daredevils

_**International Space Elevator, Gunther Bay**_  
_**October 31, 2019**_

The last volley of Helios missiles rumbled across the bay, shaking our aircraft and giving a fireworks show to the people watching from the nearby city on the coast. As the last of the shockwaves passed us, I could see our radars had been cleared. Despite the coalition taking a handful of losses in the battle, I could see that all the remaining Radical aircraft and their drone escorts had been splashed. That only left us with one final target, and the other reason we had all come today. Before I could turn my attention to that task, I got an urgent call from Avril down below in the Lighthouse. She spoke with an uneasy tone in her voice, "Trigger... I don't know how to say this, but the princess has just locked us out of the maintenance shaft and means to disable the tower by herself. I can't believe that dumbass girl would do that!"

My stomach dropped at the thought. What the hell was Rosa thinking? Did she have a death wish or something? Couldn't she leave that sort of thing to the rest of us pilots outside? It was insane enough trying to take on the Arsenal Bird in an all out battle in the air. Perhaps Rosa wanted to do her part and not risk everyone else below: Avril, Tabloid, and the Shilage girls. Maybe she wanted to continue making up for her past mistakes in starting this war. Whatever the reason, there was little I could do right now. "I hear you Avril... but we're going to be launching the final attack on the Arsenal Bird soon. However you guys are going to knock out the tower's capabilities, it's up to you. I trust you to do your jobs, just like I'm going to do mine up here."

"Wilco," Avril nodded gravely, "You and Count stay safe up there okay? Wish us luck. We'll see you soon... I hope."

The line cut out as some new calls came in from an Osean naval task force which had just entered the waters of the bay. The small fleet of missile destroyers had primed their cruise missile launchers to add their firepower in the coming attack and we could only pray it would be enough. "All coalition units, the Arsenal Bird is approaching. Prepare for saturation attack!"

I turned my head and angled my Raptor over as the rest of the remaining fighters gathered together to face our new foe. In the distance, I could see the behemoth Arsenal Bird arrive on the battlefield. It seemed to materialize from a thick white cloud bank and churn toward us with a slow relentless purpose. This had not been the first time I had seen one of those things, yet every time it filled my heart with fear and dread. The monstrous leviathan of the skies bore down on the allied forces casting its menacing shadow over the ocean waters below it. It was now or never and we were determined to survive. Although we couldn't muster the same single concentrated attack that took down the other Arsenal Bird at Stonehenge, we would have to pray that this would be enough.

I could already hear the countdown start as our combined naval and air forces lined up into formations and pushed forward. My palms grew sweaty inside my gloves as I armed my missiles and prepared to fire. Once the radar locks went red, every coalition unit let loose a salvo of missiles at the flying monster. Close to a hundred missiles streaked through the air from our fighters while several scores of cruise missiles were launched from the ships below. Smoke trails filled the sky in a strangely beautiful sight as our projectiles cruised across the blue seas and skies hoping to strike home on their target. As expected, the Arsenal Bird powered its defensive force shields and quickly encased itself within its protective blue bubble of energy.

We watched with wide eyes as the unified hail of missiles struck the Arsenal Bird and lit up the skies in a dazzling series of bright fiery explosions. Much like the Helios missiles, our attack shook the bay with a thunderous roar and momentarily blinded us with the sheer force of the ferocious assault. We held our breaths and felt our blood run cold as the large winged form emerged from the blinding cloud of smoke and fire. We felt our stomachs drop while fear gripped our hearts as we realized the force shields had in fact held! Even after that massive bombardment, the mighty Arsenal Bird hadn't been scratched at all!

One by one, flight leaders and ship commanders spoke over each other in dread relaying the bad news of our failed attack. I blinked several times trying to focus and think of a new plan when I heard Long Caster speaking in my ear, "This is AWACS Long Caster to all allied aircraft, I'm picking up multiple blips on my scope. Damn! There's a lot of them!"

"Here they come," Count said grimly as he watched a massive cloud of UAV drones being deployed from the bottom of the Arsenal Bird.

"That's somethin' all right," Huxian agreed as we formed up to meet the onslaught of the enemy counter-attack.

No sooner had the drone fighters got into range, we were shocked by one more terrifying surprise. We watched as powerful concentrated laser beams were fired from some of the Arsenal Bird's mounted cannons at the fleet below. Several warships were caught in the blast and immolated or sliced clean in half. Huxian surprised us all by exclaiming her own vulgar outrage, "Lasers? Who the fuck was the genius who decided to arm that thing with lasers?"

"Missile destroyer ships Drake and Lark are sunk," came some allied chatter, "Flagship Starling has been heavily damaged in the attack!"

By now, the UAVs were swarming us and the battle in the air became a free for all. Strider Squadron and I twisted and corkscrewed around to avoid collisions while we fired our own laser pulse cannons to cut a path through the swarm. It did little good though. Several drones went down from our hail of laser bolts but more just seemed to keep coming and taking their place.

"Strider Squadron, evasive maneuvers! Break! Break!" I shouted peeling off and trying to roll clear while Count followed suit and stayed on my wing.

"Righto. Can you believe that firepower? I for one did not expect that."

Long Caster interrupted and tried to signal regional HQ, "HQ, we have a problem The Arsenal Bird is packing some serious firepower and the fleet is getting torn apart. Please advise!"

"The Bird's APS worked all too well. Let's try to set up a new saturation attack," came the reply over the comms.

It was clear that was wishful thinking. The air battle had devolved into a chaotic mess of missiles and individual dogfights against the swarming drones. I pulled a tight turn and did a half roll to barely evade some stray fire while I tried desperately to maintain some kind of awareness of my squadron's relative positions. Several allied fighters from the Useans and Eruseans launched a second volley of missiles at the Arsenal Bird, but they were again stopped dead in their tracks by the force shield. With the battle going poorly out here, I could only hope my other friends were having better luck at the space elevator.

* * *

Meanwhile, Avril picked up a tablet and pulled up schematics of the Lighthouse before trying to reach Rosa on the comm line. much to her relief, she was able to hack into the systems and monitor the princess's progress as she rode the turbolift up to one of the higher levels. "Cossette! Can you hear me?"

"Yes," Rosa answered in surprise, "Avril, I'm sorry but..."

"Never mind that. I'm going to try and guide you through the job here but you have to hurry! Trigger and the others are fighting the Arsenal Bird outside and they won't be able to hold out forever while its shields are up."

Rosa nodded and reached the right level on an upper floor of the elevator, "Okay. I understand."

The Princess took her toolbox and hurried into one of the empty main rooms with several monitors and computers before looking around. Avril spoke up, "Cossette, that's not the control room. Go through the airlock and get to the secondary maintenance elevator. From there, head to the top of the windbreak. You're going to need a pressurized suit and..."

"I see it," Rosa said as she opened a closet and removed a pressure suit, "Just give me a minute."

The princess looked out the window and saw a ferocious air battle being waged in the distance between the Arsenal Bird and its swarming drones vs the faltering coalition. She knew she had to hurry and that fear drove her to change into the suit faster. She reluctantly shrugged off Trigger's jacket and zipped up the form fitting suit before securing her pressurized helmet and gathering her things. Just as Avril instructed, she headed out of a nearby airlock and got on the secondary service elevator which would take her the rest of the way to her objective. She already felt much more exposed in the cold open air and she tried not to think about just how high she probably was already. She kept her mind focused on saving her people and on helping Trigger and the others in their battle.

* * *

Across the bay, the air battle continued to devolve as we began to fight a losing battle against the Arsenal Bird. We were no longer on the offensive, but just staying alive and buying time until HQ could come up with a better plan. I winced as an Osean fighter exploded above me and the resulting fire and shrapnel raked the top of my Raptor. I was jostled violently and struggled to steady my aircraft before veering away from another drone. "Damn it! We're sitting ducks out here!"

"Trigger is right," Long Caster called over the comms, "HQ, conventional weapons aren't working and all the ace pilots in the world aren't going to save us unless we have a plan!"

"Give us time... we'll see what we can do," was the only reply.

"That's it? You've got to be joking! They're only just thinking about this now?" Count spat incredulously.

I watched in growing dread as the Arsenal Bird sailed closer toward the Lighthouse and I knew we had to try and intercept it. The problem was, we had literally thrown the kitchen sink at the enemy and it still wasn't enough. As we neared, I heard some more chatter being picked up. It sounded like Cossette... she was coordinating with Avril and probably doing something really dangerous?

"I can see a lightbulb shaped thing... but it isn't lit up," the princess said while holding a large wrench.

"That's it! That's the location marker!' Avril said excitedly, "You have it from there, girl. Smash it! Smash all six of those bastards!"

"Isn't there something we can do to help?" I heard Jaeger cut in to me amidst the chaos, "We can't just sit back and play defense forever."

Count growled, "When is that shield going to lose power?"

"Never," Wit of Sol Squadron answered over our line, "The orbital elevator is constantly supplying it with energy."

"Then what should we do?" Huxain demanded with fear and desperation creeping into her normally confident voice.

Count smiled as he throttled up and buzzed by the periphery of the Arsenal Bird in defiance, "Calm down Lin. I'll do something about it."

"Eugene? Hey! What are you going to do?"

I watched as my friend circled the Bird in daring swoops and wondered if he had finally cracked... if maybe he had finally lost his mind.

I could hear Cossette panting and grunting over the comm as she raised her heavy wrench and began to smash the markers one by one.

"Damn shield! Just go away!" Count shouted. *SMASH!*

"Begone!" *SMASH!*

"Disappear!" *SMASH!*

Huxian smacked the side of her helmet incredulously, "Have you lost your damn mind? Gone cuckoo, Count?"

"Away with you!" he shouted furiously at the Arsenal Bird. *SMASH!*

To everyone's astonishment, the energy shield protecting the Arsenal Bird began to flicker and dissipate before dissolving away completely. All of us among the coalition forces stared in wide eyed shock before I pointed, "Everyone, look!"

Huxian gave a giddy laugh, "Ha! I could kiss you Count! Just what kind of crazy magic did you work there you asshole?"

"Heh... it worked!" he replied with a dry laugh, "Just like I planned it. Now's our chance! Do it Trigger!"

I throttled my Raptor forward at full speed and gave an exhilarated grin while bringing all my weapons systems to bear, "Copy that. Strider Squadron on me! Let's do this everyone!"

I was met with a cheer as our five Raptors formed up into a perfect flying V and plowed forward, unloading a devastating barrage of laser bolts and missiles into the Arsenal Bird's propeller system. Finally, our weapons struck home and began to damage the monstrous aircraft. It looked like the beast could be hurt after all!

As power was cut to the Arsenal Bird, its UAV drones also began to lose power and altitude as their systems became scrambled. By now, Avril, Tabloid, Schroeder, and the Shilage girls had gotten outside the tower to head to an access point for the underground tunnels. Avril stared with wide eyes at the battle above her, "Holy shit! Are you seeing this? The drones are falling one after the other! They've completely lost control!

Up above, Strider Squadron and I continued to pummel the Arsenal Bird in a furious assault. One by one, its propellers and outer weapons systems were mangled and ruined by focus fired missiles, laser bolts, and bullets. Lanza was already on the edge of his seat whooping with excitement, "All right! Not bad! Not bad!"

As the other coalition fighter swooped in and added some fire, Long Caster chimed in, "Everyone. I think we've found a way to take down the Bird for good. We have to hit it at its core. If you can destroy the docking modules, the energy supply unit will break off the Arsenal Bird and leave its interior open to attack. If you can light that section on fire, we can flash fry that turkey and cook it whole.

Sol 2 butted in over our comm, "Easier said than done. Those modules are going to be extremely hard to hit, even for an experienced pilot!"

"You're forgetting who we've got on our side," Count corrected him with a smile, "We've got an ace among aces here. You ready to do this Trigger?"

I gave a tense grin and pulled my Raptor around for another pass, "I'm on it. Count, you're with me. Cover my rudder!"

I throttled up and swooped in at a sharp angle unloading a barrage of laser fire into the rear ventral tail of the Arsenal Bird. As I blasted away at the thick armored sections that Long Caster marked for me, Count buzzed around and kept me protected from any other drones who dared to get near.

"Don't get distracted Trigger!" he called to me, "Just focus on what you need to do! Let me cover you and worry about the rest."

"Wilco!" I answered gratefully to my wingman as I kept firing away and hammering at the weak points. I could hear my warning sensors blaring telling me some enemies had locks on me, but I'd put my faith in Count and the others to shield me, "Strider Squadron, press the attack! Keep firing and don't let up!"

Over the comms, I could hear some allied units join in behind the Striders, "All Erusean fighters, fall in behind Three Strikes and follow his lead!"

Back on the grounds of the Lighthouse, Osean and Erusean troops retreated to the safety of the tower or to other landing craft as the UAV drones began to lose power and plummet from the skies like a rain of dead birds. Avri, Tabloid, and the others rushed toward the pedestrian entrance to the underground tunnel but found that it had been sealed up by an auto-lock security system. Dr. Schroeder fumbled at the controls and tried to override it but to no avail, "Damn! The thing is locked! I don't have time to to crack this!"

Tabloid scanned the grounds before his eyes found a small helipad some distance away with a transport chopper. "Over there! We can use that to get clear of this whole war zone!"

"And who's going to fly that thing? You?" Avril asked quickly.

"Yes me!" Tabloid insisted, "We don't have time to argue Avril! Let's get these young ladies to safety!"

As their group broke from cover and began their long sprint across the grounds, Avril gave a panicked cry as she pointed to the air, "Look out! More drones are falling!"

Ionela began to panic as she pulled her sister along and Avril pressed forward, "Hey! Just stay calm! You want to get yourselves killed?"

Before the teenager could answer, her hand slipped and Alma took a spill on the ground. Tabloid immediately turned around and headed back to fetch her. Avril shouted in fear as the drones continued to rain down around them, "Tabloid! Steven! Get back here!"

"I'm not going to let this little girl die!" he shouted back as he scooped her up in his arms and began to rush forward as fast as his bad leg would carry him.

Avril kept sprinting with the others and called behind her in desperate frustration, "Just hurry! Run! Run!"

From the top of the tower, even Rosa had picked up the desperation of Avril over the open comm line and asked, "Is everything okay? The drones are acting strangely."

As the others neared the helipad, Avril turned just in time to see a drone fall from the sky and land right behind Tabloid as he struggled to keep up. He grimaced in pain and exhaustion from running on his bad leg and he gripped Alma tightly as the drone exploded behind him kicking up a cloud of smoke, dirt, and wreckage. Avril's eyes went wide and she screamed in horror as she went back to find her friend, "No! Tabloid!"

She let the cloud of debris wash over her and allowed the shockwave to pass before pushing on again. She searched through the blinding mess shouting for Tabloid when she heard some coughing and muffled crying. As the smoke cleared, Avril bent down to see Tabloid lying on the ground motionless while still shielding Alma from harm with his body. Avril pulled the girl free and comforted her for a moment before reaching out to Tabloid. She rolled him over and desperately began to pat his cheek, wiping away some grime as he continued to lie still, "Tabloid! Steven! Hey, speak to me! If you die here, I'm going to be so pissed at you, and so will Trigger."

To Avril's sudden relief, she felt Tabloid stir and give a sputtering cough. He cracked his eyes open slightly and forced a weak smile to her, "Avril... haven't you learned our motto? We stick with Trigger and we'll make it, remember?"

Avril almost broke out into tears as she gave a relieved smile, "You're damn right we will."

"I thought I was going to die when I crashed my Mirage back then. I couldn't let a crashing drone kill me instead."

Avril laughed and surprised him by bending down to plant a big heartfelt kiss on his lips. When they finally parted she spoke quietly, "You damn fool, quit with the heroics and let's get out of here."

By now, Ionela had come to collect her sister while Avril helped Tabloid rise and make it the rest of the way. Avril messaged Rosa with a flushed face, "Cossette... everything is fine. I think... no, I know we're going to be fine."

As the drama continued to unfold on the ground, the coalition forces began to circle and close in around the wounded Arsenal Bird as it put up its last stand. As I continued to fire my pulse cannons, I could see that they were starting to overheat, but now was the time to throw caution to the wind. We didn't have the time to let up. The blue laser bolts from my Raptor pummeled the underside of the Arsenal Bird and finally sheared away the thick armor plates that held the support structures for the Bird's power supply. In one great blast, the module collapsed and Long Caster gave a cheer, "That's it! Targets are destroyed! You should be able to see the rectennea where the supply unit fell off."

As I broke off and angled in for one final pass, I could already see a large central chunk of the Arsenal Bird fall apart and plummet to the ocean in a plume of smoke and flames. The central core of the Bird was finally exposed. I swooped in from overhead in a rolling dive and armed my last two missiles, letting them both fly with a shout, "Strider 1, Fox 2!"

The missiles flew true and struck home in the heart of the Arsenal Bird. I almost felt like one of those knights from the myths who had just lanced a terrible flying dragon through the heart as a great blast erupted from the airship's core. It belched a thick cloud of black smoke as the propellers sputtered to a halt and the dying Bird lost power. I pulled free of the enemy's flight path as I heard a chorus of cheers from the coalition forces and watched as the mighty Arsenal Bird began to lose altitude. While it continued to sink in the skies, a series of secondary explosions detonated from within and tore though the hull of the monstrous beast in gouts of searing fire.

Long Caster gave an equally jubilant cheer as he confirmed the kill, "Direct hit confirmed on the Arsenal Bird! Target is going down! I repeat, the target is going down!"

"This will be a hell of a story to tell my son," Jaeger agreed as the rest of the Striders formed up on my wings. We kept our distance and watched together as the flaming leviathan plummeted from the skies and crashed into the open ocean waters.

A colossal plume of water and smoke crested upward as the Arsenal Bird met it fiery end and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Count couldn't help but give a small smug grin of satisfaction, "Man, even in death that thing is still intimidating."

I sent a call out to Avril on the ground and flipped up my helmet's visor, "Mission accomplished! Avril, Tabloid, we're coming home!"

Avril gave deep sigh of relief as she sat in the chopper with Tabloid. He began to power up the aircraft to get the others back home and started to finish his pre-flight check. "Copy that Trigger. Thank God. We'll see you soon."

She then looked up and radioed Rosa who was still stranded up on the elevator, "Cossette? Wait there, Princess. We'll get you down."

"Don't worry about me. Please just take care of Ionela and Alma for me. I'll parachute down," Rosa answered as she strapped in an emergency parachute that she recovered from the lift. The princess walked out to the edge of the tower's outer catwalk and took several deep breaths to steady herself. She had gone skydiving once or twice before when she was younger, but never like this. She was up so high at this vantage point and she almost swore that she could see half of the Usean continent from here. She took a few more steadying breaths and prepared to steel herself to jump when she caught movement out the corner of her eye. She looked out over the distant skies and spotted two strange aircraft with dark markings and sharp angles on their design. "What?"

Were those the two renegade drones that Ionela and Dr. Schroeder told them about? The ones that had killed Moretti and posed a threat from the other factories that were ready to replicate them? If that wasn't an impetus to jump and escape, Rosa didn't know what was. She spread out her arms and closed her arms before leaping off the platform in a graceful swan dive. As she plummeted she saw a flight of Osean F-22s enter the airspace. It looked to be Strider Squadron led by Trigger.

From my cockpit, I spotted the distant figure of Rosa diving off the Lighthouse just as Long Caster signaled a new warning to us. "Strider Squadron, two unidentified bogeys have entered the air space. It looks like their weapon systems are armed."

I could see the two strange black fighters angle in toward the falling form of Rosa and my heart stopped beating for a moment. It looked like those fighters meant to intercept her and even attack. I could already hear Count and Lanza in my ear.

"Trigger? Those guys look like bad news."

"Boss, do something!"

I saw one of the bogeys fire a missile directly at Rosa and I knew what I had to do. Without a second thought, I throttled my Raptor forward as fast as it's thrusters could go, "No! Cossette! Look out!"

The princess turned her head in shock just in time to see the errant missile screaming through the air directly at her. She gave a panicked shriek of fear before I followed the example of Tabloid and interposed my plane at the last moment. Every Osean pilot who was present held their collective breaths and I heard my squadmates shout in alarm, seconds before the missile impacted my fighter plane in a fiery blast.

"Trigger!"


	13. Hush

**_International Space Elevator, Gunther Bay_**  
**_October 31, 2019_**

I didn't know which way was up or down. For a moment, I didn't even know where I was or who I was. My field of vision went completely white as each second on the clock felt more like an individual eternity. As the stars faded from my eyes and I slowly regained consciousness, I could feel my body ache as I sensed myself be violently shaken around. The tunnel vision faded and I could see blue skies through a cracked canopy all while I heard muffled noises around me. The sensors of my Raptor's console were all flashing red and blaring a warning of catastrophic damage while I heard the distant voice of Long Caster shouting in my ear, "Strider 1! Strider 1! Please respond! Tom! You have to eject!"

I blinked in a dumb stupor before I realized what was happening. My fighter jet was losing altitude and beginning to plummet into the ocean in a death spiral. My joystick was useless and my engines were dead. I could feel the heat of flames coming from my fuselage and I knew I had to bail out. My head was swimming and my body ached from that impact but in my mental fog, I still managed to fumble around for the ejection seat handle. I breathed heavily and felt like everything was moving in slow motion. For a split second, I wondered if Rosa was okay before I gave the handle a yank and felt myself be propelled upward as the Raptor's ruined canopy blew off. The ejector seat shot me high into the air before falling away and deploying a parachute. I could feel the cold wind whipping into my face as I hung in midair gently falling toward the earth. It was almost a surreal sight as I looked around the vast open waters of the space elevator and saw the other coalition fighters still battling those two strange bogeys.

I felt helpless as I watched several allied fighters get completely shot out of the skies by those new enemies that moved with unnatural speed and precision. As I descended and got my bearings, I heard some chatter saying that Strider Squadron was safely withdrawing from the airspace. Several other Usean and Erusean fighters were obliterated by the bogeys above before I touched down near the shore of the Lighthouse and splashed into some cold shallow water. I was still feeling bruised and disoriented when I suddenly felt several hands cut the strings of my chute and drag me to safety. I looked at my rescuers with bleary eyes and saw to my surprise that it was Avril. Helping her carry me was a taller middle aged man with silver hair, a dark shirt, and glasses. Avril dragged me toward a waiting chopper that was ready to take off from the island and she gave me a small reassuring smile, "Hang on Trigger. We're gonna get out of here, okay?"

"What about Rosa?" I croaked out hoarsely.

"She's fine," Avril said pointing to the helicopter, "She got down safely because of you and she's waiting in the chopper now."

It didn't even register as I was dumped into the passenger side of the aircraft. No sooner had I been thrown inside the hatch, I immediately passed out and was enveloped by darkness.

* * *

_**OFS Admiral Andersen**_  
_**October 31, 2019**_

When I woke up later, I learned that we had been evacuated to an Osean aircraft carrier called the _Admiral Andersen_ which had been abandoned near the start of the war. It had run aground and taken damage but it still remained largely intact. From what I learned, the ship was several miles away from the space elevator, close enough to strike at it, but far enough to keep us safe from the pursuit of those strange drones. A number of support personnel as well as Long Caster had come to the carrier to act as frontline staff to help service the planes and organize a new plan. As I lay in the sickbay of the ship and recovered, I found my friends had all gathered around my bed to take turns keeping a vigil. When I had regained consciousness, I found Tabloid, Count, and Avril all sitting in chairs waiting. Tabloid came to me first and put a hand on my shoulder, "Yo buddy. Still alive? I thought about giving you some hell for pulling a copycat of me at Bulgurdarest, but I'm just glad to have you back with us Trigger."

"Thanks man. Glad to be back."

Count extended a hand and shook mine. He normally carried himself with a smug and cocky air but even now he had a look of genuine concern and relief, "Hey... how're you feeling bossman? That was a hell of a stunt you pulled back there. You gave the whole squadron a heart attack and I was afraid that you'd... well, go the same way as Wiseman."

I gave a weak smile, "Sorry I worried you Count. To be honest, I feel like hell right now but I still want to thank you... for taking charge and getting the rest of our squadron out safe."

Count gave a sheepish look and turned away slightly while scratching at his scruffy blond hair, "Oh? Yeah... don't mention it, Trigger."

Avril greeted me next and filled me in on what happened on the grounds of the space elevator. She told me about Dr. Schroeder, the Shilage girls, and the killer drones Hugin and Munin. She also told me that she had done some scouting of the ship here and found that it had a compliment of fighter planes in its hangar. I began to rise from my bed but tabloid stopped me, "Whoah... hey guy. Where do you think you're going? You're all banged up and the medical officer here needs to clear you from the concussion protocol."

At that moment, the hatch opened and Huxian entered followed by the rest of Strider Squadron. "Hey Count! We're getting called in for a joint briefing with Long Caster and..."

She paused and her eyes went wide when she saw me, "Trigger? You're awake!"

Jaeger and Lanza added their own voices to the happiness and relief before I tried to rise again, "That's right Lin. Lucky for you jokers, I'm far from dead."

"Trigger! You need to lie back down and rest!" Avril insisted but I shook my head.

"Not right now," I said stubbornly, while zipping up my flightsuit again, "I might not be cleared for duty yet, but at least let me go the briefing. The squadron needs me and my place is with them."

I paused a moment before I remembered, "Wait. What about Rosa? Where is she?"

"She's in another section of sickbay getting checked out," Avril supplied, "Last I saw, she was getting some oxygen and extra painkillers so she's probably resting right now."

I nodded and willed my tired aching body to head out the door, "Okay. Until then, let's see what the major has to say. Striders? Who's with me?"

After a short walk, we entered the carrier's command deck where senior naval officers would hold their mission briefings. There were a few naval personnel from the remnants of the fleet there to help operate things on board as our senior air force officers took the lead in planning a new attack. In the briefing room were other pilots from the coalition forces and it was unusual to see them all in one place, particularly the Eruseans and those of our rival Sol Squadron. Several of them all turned to look when I entered wanting to see the "infamous Three Strikes" in person. I simply gave them quiet nods of acknowledgement before shuffling over to Long Caster who was going to preside over the briefing. The portly mustached major blinked in surprise when he saw me stand and salute him, "Captain Richter, reporting for duty Major."

"Trigger? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in bed?" he asked.

"Sorry sir. It'll take more than just a lucky missile to keep me down."

He smiled and nodded before gesturing for all of us to sit down and be quiet. He dimmed the lights and brought up a display with updated tactical information.

"Trigger? Everyone? Listen up! The prior operation was largely a success. With the death of Enrico Moretti, the last of the Radical Erusean forces have finally been neutralized. In addition, the last of the Arsenal Birds has also been destroyed. However, we still have a problem. Those two bogeys have turned out to be advanced experimental drone fighters. Those pests buzzing around the space elevator have royally screwed up our plans. The Osean and Erusean coalition's air forces are in a sorry state because of them. The battle with the Arsenal Bird and then those drones have taken a heavy toll on our forces here."

Long Caster trailed off and wore a solemn look on his face before regaining his bearing and speaking again, "According to Avril Mead and the others who were present at the Lighthouse, the drones are likely trying to access the space elevator's transmission capabilities to send their data to drone manufacturing plants spread out across the Usean continent. Even if the Radicals have been defeated, those drones have become autonomous and can potentially create a sentient military force all by themselves. What's worse, those advanced drones have been programmed with a depth of war experience from Col. Mihaly Shilage and equipped with state of the art weapons. If we let those things replicate themselves, this war will never end and untold numbers of people may die. We need to stop them at all costs… so that we have homes to come back to. This is our final mission. Trigger? Are you…"

I rose from my seat and stood at attention toward Long Caster. I hoped it would give him some reassurance as well as give a little encouragement the rest of the pilots sitting in that room. I answered in a resolute tone, "I'll be ready to fly again, sir. You can count on Strider Squadron. We're going to make sure that we end this war once and for all!"

I could see small smiles touch the faces of our allied pilots while I heard the rest of my own squadron voice their agreement and willingness to fight around me. Despite Long Caster's reservations, he gave a nod, "All right then. Once you go and get final clearance from the medical officer on board, you have a go. As for the rest of you, you have your orders. I don't think I need to tell you how to prep your aircraft and ready for the mission at hand. Good luck pilots."

As the meeting began to adjourn, I pushed past a few people to get to Avril at the end of the room. I caught her as she was ready to head out the door, "Avril! Wait!"

She turned and gave a patient sigh, "Listen Trigger, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got a ton of work to do and..."

"That's just it," I pointed out, "You said you found a stockpile of aircraft on the lower decks of this carrier. I lost my Raptor and I'm going to need a new fighter."

She held out a hand to stop me, "Don't worry Trigger. I'm all over that. I've got something special in mind for you but I'm going to need some extra help with it and will probably have to pull an all nighter in order to get it ready for battle."

I blinked in surprise, "You do? Can I help? What is it?"

She fixed me with a mild glare of exasperation, "Here's a better idea. How about you stop asking so many stupid questions and just trust me right now? You get your rest and I'll do my part here to prep your aircraft, okay?"

I paused and relented before giving her a quiet nod, "Yeah. Okay."

"Good," she said with a small grin as she punched my arm and headed out the door, "I'll catch you on the flipside Trigger."

I sighed as I watched her go. Maybe she was right. I still had to go back to the ship's sickbay. The faster I checked out, the faster we'd be able to get this over with.

* * *

_**[Sickbay]**_

_Through the mist of the clouds, Princess Rosa Cossette D'Elise could feel herself falling. She saw brief flashes of the sun, the blue waters of Gunther Bay below her. She perceived brief fleeting flashes of memories from before the war and during it: of her dog, of laughing with Ionela, and of escaping Farbanti. She could hear someone singing the familiar tune of Pensees… perhaps it was even her? She caught a brief flash of an Osean F-22 Raptor roar into her field of vision and ignite on fire from an explosive blast before she got a look at a black winged figure with a single glowing red eye._

She awoke with a start from her nightmare and fumbled out of her mind fog, only to find herself in the sick bay of the aircraft carrier. She remembered being taken there and given medication to help her rest for all that was worth. She turned to see both Ionela and Alma sitting by her bedside keeping watch and they immediately came to her. "Rosa! Are you okay?"

The princess nodded and gave a weak smile to the Shilage girls, "Ionela. Alma. I'm fine. I just had a bad dream. I'm glad to see you again."

Ionela took her friend's hand and gave it a squeeze, "After everything that's happened, it's a small miracle we're all okay and together again. Now we're only waiting on one other person. I didn't see Grandfather with the coalition forces here. Do you know where he is?"

Rosa blanched slightly and grimaced, "Ionela… you're telling me you haven't heard?"

Her younger friend stopped and gave a tense look, "Heard what?"

Rosa gave a sigh, "Please sit down. I'm going to have a lot to tell you."

A while later, I sat up in my bed on the other end of the sickbay deck and waited as the medical officer studied some digital readouts. She gave a slight frown and shook her head, "Well Captain Richter… I don't know how you did it, but it looks like you passed the concussion protocol."

My heart leapt, "That's great news Doc! So that means I can leave? And that I can fly tomorrow?"

"Yes. I suppose it does," she conceded as she tucked away the electronic tablet, "I still don't like the idea of risking Osea's best pilot under these circumstances. It goes against my better judgment to give you clearance… but I'm guessing you wouldn't have listened to me anyway, right?"

"No. Probably not," I admitted with a small grin.

She sighed and headed for the door, "Well Captain, I'll let you change back into your duty uniform and gather your things. I'll write your clearance orders so you're free to go whenever you're ready."

"Thanks Doc," I said. I waited for her to go before I went to grab my jumper. I didn't get the chance as the door opened again and a young woman entered. She was a pretty brunette in a dark blue dress. She looked younger and if I had to guess, probably still a teenager but something about her had a noble bearing. The civilian regarded me quietly with a curious look and I began to feel a little uncomfortable at the awkward silence.

"Hi... can I help you?"

She entered the room and wore a calm poker-faced expression, "I wanted to meet the pilot that everyone calls Three Strikes."

The girl walked over to an empty chair at my bedside and continued to study me so I glanced around, "Umm... I'll be honest. I don't know anything about being like a celebrity, but if you're looking for an autograph or something..."

"I'm not a fan and I don't want your autograph," she said levelly, "Just answers... about how my grandfather died at your hands."

I balked a moment and stared at her, "I'm sorry? Your grandfather?"

"I am Ionela Shilage, the eldest grandaughter of Colonel Mihaly A. Shilage."

My eyes went wide in shock and I felt my heart skip a beat. This meeting just went from zero to awkward in less than sixty seconds. I stammered out the only thing I could say at the moment, "I'm sorry. Your grandfather... he left me no choice."

She nodded solemnly, "I already spoke to Rosa about it... but I wanted to hear it from your own mouth. I wonder if you feel the same way about all the other Eruseans you've killed over the course of this war."

"That's not fair," I frowned, "As much as I hate to admit it, that's the nature of war. If I didn't then more of my own friends would have died too. In fact, your grandfather is responsible for the deaths of several of mine."

Ionela grimaced and looked away, "I admit... he wasn't a saint either. He had his share of faults."

"But there is one thing I can't fault him for," I offered gently, "It's that he loved you and wanted to protect you. Before I shot him down, he made me promise that I would help to rescue you and your sister from the Radicals. I think he regretted the way he let things come to this."

"Then I suppose I should be thanking you in a way," Ionela mused darkly, "At least you ended his suffering and that he died in the skies he loved so much."

"He met his death head on and was very brave," I admitted while recalling the duel, "He was the best pilot I've ever faced and it brought me no joy in shooting him down."

She looked up at me curiously before I continued, "Your friend Rosa... she changed my mind about a lot of things... and about how futile it is to be consumed by our own feelings of vengeance and hate. If anything, I want to end this war as soon as possible, just like the rest of you."

Ionela sat back in her chair lost in thought, "Thank you Three Strikes... I'm glad we feel the same way about things."

"Call me Tom. Thomas Richter," I said offering her my hand. As she shook it, I asked her, "There's two things I'd like to ask of you Miss Shilage. First, if you will accept my apologies?"

She gave a faint smile and nodded, "Yes. What was the other thing?"

I sat back on the bed, "If you've got a little while, I was hoping maybe we could just talk here. I'd like you to tell me more about your grandfather, about what kind of a man he was, and how he became such an incredible pilot."

Ionela squeezed my hand and nodded in approval, "Yes. I'd like that. Thank you."

* * *

_**[Flight Deck]**_

Later that night, Count stood on the flight deck of the carrier by himself. After everything that had happened, he needed the fresh air and some space. Maybe it was because he was a pilot, or maybe because the cramped quarters of the ship made him feel like he was in a prison cell. It brought back bad memories of the 444. Especially memories of time spent in solitary confinement. He paced the deck and walked out toward one end of the runway noting how odd it was that things were so quiet. the ship barely had a skeleton crew and no planes were being launched. That was okay with him. He preferred it that way tonight. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter and a cigarette. He lit the cigarette and took a drag while continuing to stand out looking across the dark ocean waters. In the light of the moon, he could make out the shadowy outline of the monolithic space elevator in the distance. Even though he had flown around the massive structure earlier that day, he idly wondered just how far that thing actually reached.

He gave another sigh when he heard someone walk up from behind and call him, "Count. Hey, there you are."

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Huxian approach to join him on the deck. "Lin? I didn't expect to see you up and about right now."

Huxian shrugged, "I didn't see you with the others down below so I figured you might be up here. It was a nice night and I wanted some air."

He gave a mild snort of amusement, "Heh. I know the feeling. Like a bird cooped up in a cage."

"Speaking of birds... that was a pretty wild battle today, wasn't it?" Huxian asked, "It's pretty hard to believe we didn't buy the farm and that we took down the Arsenal Bird."

"You know that was all me, right?" Count teased with a smile.

"What? Shut up. No it wasn't," she answered punching his arm and rolling her eyes.

"Well for a minute you thought it was anyway," Count chuckled idly, "I wonder if you meant that other thing too."

Huxian turned slightly in confusion, "What other thing?"

"You know... about kissing me?"

"Oh... that," Huxian said flushing in embarrassment, "Eugene, I..."

"You know what? Forget it Lin. I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that. It was stupid of me," Count said while blowing out some smoke.

Huxian remained quiet for a long moment before saying, "Yes."

Count blinked in confusion and looked to her as she continued, "I guess I did mean it… or that, I'm not opposed to the idea."

"Huxian? What are you talking about?"

She sighed and looked out in starry night skies toward the silhouette of the Lighthouse, "I'm not blind Count. I know you've had a thing for me for a while."

He raised an eyebrow and took a puff of his cigarette, "So what... you've been messing with my head this whole time?"

"No. I just wanted to make sure you were worth the risk... if I could trust you," she admitted, "I know you came from the penal units before so you must've had a checkered past."

"You're scared I'm not the kind of guy you'd want to introduce to your grandma or something?" he snorted.

She glared at him, "When I first met you, I thought you were kind of an arrogant asshole."

"Yeah... I get that a lot," he shrugged with a laugh.

"I wondered why Trigger of all people trusted you and considered you his friend. And after flying with you these last several months, I understand why now... and that you're not actually the person I thought you were," Huxian confessed, "I could tell how it hurt you to see Wiseman go down and the way you reacted when Trigger took that missile."

Count nodded and looked to her, "I sense a 'but' coming."

Huxian sighed, "We've still got a battle to fight here and I don't want to get distracted. I'm sure you don't either. But maybe when this whole stupid war is over..."

"Don't worry. I don't plan on dying tomorrow Lin."

She gave him an amused smirk, "You're on then Count. You willing to put your money where your mouth is?"

"I'll do one better," he said tossing aside his cigarette before drawing close to give her a quick kiss on the lips. She stood in stunned silence before Count gave a wink and headed back toward the stairs leading inside the ship, "I've got a date with destiny tomorrow Huxian. Hope to see you there."

Once he left, she shook her head and looked out toward the Lighthouse trying to hide the quiet smile that had crept on her lips.

* * *

_**[Lower Hangar Bays]**_

Elsewhere, Dr. Schroeder made his way to one of the aircraft carrier's hangar bays. When he reached the correct one, he opened the hatch door and entered only to find Avril waiting for him. She had dressed in her full coveralls and was digging around in her toolbox. She looked up and greeted the scientist with a quick nod, "Oh, Doc. There you are."

He approached curiously and adjusted his glasses, "You asked me to come here tonight, Miss Mead?"

She nodded and led him across the hangar past a few F-35s, "Yeah. My friend needs a new plane and I'm going to need your help in fixing one up for him."

"For Three Strikes?" Schroeder asked, "I may be an aeronautical engineer, but I haven't gotten my hands dirty with this stuff in years."

"Yeah, well I'm not giving you a choice," Avril said as she led him to a plane in the corner of the far hangar, "You've been working with the Eruseans long enough. Maybe you know a thing or two about this one."

Schroeder stopped and stared in surprise at the fighter she picked out. He had seen one back at the EASA facility where he had worked but he didn't expect to see another one here of all places. "How did you... what is an Osean ship doing carrying this around? Unless it was captured? Or stolen?"

"Don't know. Don't care. What matters is that it's here and that it's ours," Avril said flatly, "All I know is that this bird is one of those advanced jets and I'll bet it's better than our Raptors. I was thinking we fix her up, equip some new pulse lasers, and slap on some blue and white stars. What do you say?"

Schroeder walked forward and touched the underside of the sleek fighter's nose, "You really think we have enough time?"

Avril tossed him some work gloves and some goggles, "Only one way to find out. Clock's ticking Doc."

* * *

**_OFS Admiral Andersen_**  
**_November 1, 2019_**

Early that following morning, I awoke in the ship's crew cabin which I had picked out for myself and prepared to head off into battle. I cleaned myself up and put on my flight suit before looking at myself one more time in the mirror. As I looked at my reflection in that drab spartan cabin, I wondered if I had looked any differently than I did when I first stared in the mirror at Zapland. Over the course of several months, I wondered what someone who had gone from convict, to ace, to hero looked like. Staring back at me was the same short black hair, the same blue eyes, and the same daring grin. I saw the same old Thomas Richter, maybe a little older and wiser now, but the same hopeful face that I recognized. I was determined to keep it that way. I was not going to let this war change me for the worse. No, I was going to change this war instead. I was going to change this war for the better by putting an end to it and protecting everyone that I had grown to care about over the course of it. I hadn't forgotten my vow to myself at Zapland… to make the skies safe for everyone once again. I gave one last look to my reflection before I gave a little nod and headed for the door, "All right Trigger. This is it. Time to save the world and be a big damn hero."

I left my room and headed down the narrow corridors of the carrier until I reached one of the upper hangar decks. The pilots' locker rooms were located on the next deck up and that's where I would collect my flight gear. I walked across the deck and saw that the large bay doors had already been opened to let in some air. It felt cool and refreshing and I stopped to enjoy the moment of peace and quiet. The air was salty and the sky dim as faint light had begun to touch the gentle dark blue waves which pounded quietly from below. I was about to move on when I heard a familiar voice call out to me. "Thomas, wait!

I turned in surprise as I saw Princess Rosa hurry across the hangar floor to catch me, "Cossette? I… what are you doing here?"

She looked like she had left the ship's sick bay and had hurriedly dressed into some spare clothes found around the ship, a long skirt and a white turtleneck sweater. "I wanted to see you off before you went back into battle," she said hesitantly as she approached, "You weren't planning on leaving before saying goodbye, were you?"

I suddenly felt a little sheepish, "I… didn't want to worry you too much. I thought you needed your rest after everything that's happened already and..."

"We'll have plenty of time to rest once this is all over," Rosa scolded me gently, "I still wanted to thank you... for saving me again back at the Lighthouse."

"You saved us too Rosa. You were the one who helped drop the Arsenal Bird's shields," I pointed out.

Rosa gave a weak chuckle, "Still... in a way, maybe I was a little selfish. Maybe part of me still wanted to make up for the past by sharing in the same kind of risks as the rest of you, and maybe part of me was a little selfish for wanting to help protect you out there as you've done for me... as you still continue to do. Thomas, you've done so much for me and for Osea. I couldn't even begin to repay you."

"Princess, it's fine. Really," I said trying to reassure her, "I just want to do what's right, especially for the people I care about."

She gave me a curious look with her own blue eyes, "Including me?"

"I... well... yes. Including you," I admitted with a sheepish smile. Rosa graced me with a serene smile before giving an apologetic look.

"Tom, I want to apologize. While I was up on the space elevator, I had to leave your coat behind."

I waved it off, "That's okay Cossette. It's just a jacket."

"A jacket with your good luck charm," she said in mild amusement causing me to sputter and turn red with embarrassment.

"Princess? Uh, I can explain..."

She held up a calm hand and laughed quietly, "It's okay Thomas. You don't have to. Avril told me about it. I thought it was sweet so... I just wanted you to know." **(*)**

I glanced beyond the princess to the open bay doors and caught the slight reflection of the dawn's early light upon the rippling waters. Rosa turned her head slightly to follow my gaze, "What is it?"

"I just noticed... I see light to the east. Morning is coming," I said softly with a distant smile before I slowly looked back to her, "And when I come back, I can't wait to see it... the most beautiful sunrise ever."

Rosa smiled and stepped forward, drawing close. She hesitated for a moment before touching my collar and reaching up to give me a soft slow kiss on the corner of my lips and my cheek. After kissing me, she drew back slightly with a slight pink tinge on her cheeks, "See? Aren't you glad you're still alive?"

I returned her quiet smile before I slowly put my arms around her and drew her close again. I finished what she had started and leaned in to share a long tender kiss with the princess of Erusea. Her lips were soft and warm to the touch as she returned my kiss and I could smell the faint scent of lavender shampoo in her golden hair. It was hard to tell exactly how long we stood there, wrapped in a longing embrace and sharing in the warm glow of that kiss which we hoped would never end. After a time, I reluctantly pulled away and gently leaned my forehead against hers, trying to steady my beating heart, "It's time... I have to go now. I'm sorry Cossette."

"It's okay... I understand," she nodded quietly before letting me go and fixing me with her hope-filled eyes, "Hurry back Thomas. We'll be waiting for you."

I straightened up and gave Rosa a brave smile with a small quiet salute. Without another word, I turned and walked away toward the lift that would take me to the next deck up. Right now, there were a lot of things I didn't know. I didn't know what new aircraft the Scrap Queen had promised me and I didn't know what to expect in this coming battle. What I did know was that I had something to live for, for people to return home to... Tabloid, Count, Avril, and Rosa. I may not have had my good luck charm anymore that had kept me safe in countless battles but that was okay. The princess of Erusea had given me something more meaningful to carry me through to the end of this war. As far as I was concerned, that purpose and that promise sealed in our kiss... that was good enough for me.

* * *

**A/N:  
(*) Cue the track '15 Years Ago' from AC 5's OST and shout out to the Razgriz for a few beautiful lines of dialogue to echo in this fic.**

**And before anyone jumps all over me for it, yes. I know the F-22 isn't technically a carrier based aircraft. I'll just shrug and handwave it as Ace Combat world. In a game with giant railguns, force shields, and fighter planes armed with 80+ missiles, the Raptors of Strider Squadron launching off a carrier should be pretty reasonable by comparison, right? :)**


	14. Skies Unknown

_**OFS Admiral Andersen, Upper Hangars  
**__**November 1, 2019**_

After gathering my flight gear, I arrived at my designated hangar and met Avril at the entrance. I followed along as she immediately pulled me by the wrist toward a loading platform. Her face was smudged with grease and she looked exhausted but there was an excited glint her eyes as well, "Check this out Trigger! I spent all night working on this thing with Doc Schroeder but I think we got it just right."

We passed a couple F-35s until I stopped and stared in wide eyed wonder at the new aircraft that Avril had specifically set aside for my use. To my astonishment, I found myself staring at a rare, yet familiar aircraft that I had once seen before. I recognized its sleek design and folding wings that swept forward. I later learned that these aircraft had variable geometry technology to offer an edge in the skies as well as two tri-dimensional thrust vectoring engines. Although it sacrificed a little bit of armor, this aircraft made up for it with superior speed and agility. This was none other than an X-02 Strike Wyvern. Unlike the one Mihaly Shilage had flown, this one was silver colored with blue trim. I saw my three talon strikes painted across my tail and the emblem of Osea's blue and white stars emblazoned on the wings.

"Wow! No way!" I gasped, "Where did you find this thing?"

Avril beamed proudly, "Not entirely sure. My guess is the ISAF shared intel with us and Osea has been trying out its own variants of the Erusean fighter. Kinda fitting I guess. It'll take an Erusean weapon to stop an Erusean weapon, right?"

I walked forward and inspected the fighter while still in a state of awe. She had equipped it with pulse cannons and an assortment of heatseeking and QAAM missiles. "She looks incredible Avril. I don't know what to say."

"You dumbass... how about, thanks?" she chuckled tiredly. I laughed at that and came over to give her a grateful hug.

"Thank you Avril. I promise I'll try not to chip the paint... or blow the thrusters out."

As I let her go and prepared to do a final check of the plane, we were surprised when we saw Tabloid enter the hangar. He had donned a flight suit and carried his own gear, giving a little nod as he strode forward. I stopped and stared as he came to face me, "Tabloid? What's going on? What are you doing?"

My comrade gestured to the co-pilot's chair in the two seater Wyvern, "Isn't it obvious? You're going to need a co-pilot so I'm going to fly with you."

"I can't ask you to do that, especially for me," I said shaking my head but he gave me an adamant look of resolution.

"I didn't ask for your permission Trigger. That's all the more reason I need to be there for you... just like you were for me all those times in the past."

Avril frowned indignantly as she quickly took his hand, "Tabloid, you dumbass! You really think I'm going to let you go at a time like this? After everything we've been through?"

"It's okay Avril. I promise I'll bring him back," I said calmly looking to my two friends, "If he sticks with me, he'll make it."

The Scrap Queen gave a torn look before giving a resigned nod. She stepped away to clear the deck, "All right. I'm going to hold you to that promise Trigger."

I smiled and handed Tabloid his flight helmet back, "Steve? I... thanks. Let's get going, huh?"

We boarded the Wyvern and began to do our pre-flight checks before powering it up. I closed the canopy and gripped the flight controls, taking a moment to admire the layout of the advanced fighter. It was a little different than my Raptor so getting familiar with everything meant I'd be flying by the seat of my pants. Come to think of it, maybe it was a good idea that Tabloid came with me after all. As we finished the startup procedures, I smiled and gave an idle observation, "So... you and Avril, huh? Either I missed a good story while I was in battle yesterday, or I must still be concussed."

Tabloid gave a mild snort and smiled quietly, "Hey Trigger. Be a pal and do me a favor right now? Shut the hell up."

We exchanged a light laugh as the deck shifted and the lift began to raise us up to the flight deck. By now, most of the other coalition fighters would be in the air and waiting for us. That was when I heard Avril's voice over the comms. She was probably somewhere down below and trying to radio us already. "Can I use this? Hey, can you hear me? That craft is in peak condition. I even buffed up the canopy for a nice shine so you can really see the sky."

The platform finally stopped rising as it locked in place and put us on the aircraft carrier's top deck. The gentle light of dawn was beginning to break over the eastern skies and the clouds had lit up in a celestial glow. I already saw several allied aircraft circling in a holding pattern waiting for us to depart as Long Caster radioed me from the carrier's tower, "The runway is clear Trigger. A flight of Eruseans as well as Mage and Golem Squadrons will be joining you en route from Seletapura soon. Good luck out there Strider 1."

"Roger that control," I answered with a smile as I began to power the engines of the Wyvern for takeoff. Tabloid gave a thumbs up from behind.

"All systems green. We're good to go."

Avril spoke one more time over the comms, "Take care Trigger. When you get back… let me know what you guys saw."

"Wilco," I answered before punching the throttle and taking off down the short runway. The Wyvern blasted forward and we were launched into the air to join the rest of our squadron who had already taken off just before us. As we ascended and leveled off, we were joined by the rest of Strider Squadron and the remaining coalition while flying toward the Lighthouse on the horizon. Count gave a laugh as he and Huxian formed up on my wings, "Hey! Nice ride Trigger! I'm kinda jealous... and was that Tabloid I heard on the comm?"

"Hope you don't mind me tagging along," Tabloid answered, "For old time's sake."

As we continued to cruise over the open waters of the ocean, I saw Mage and Golem Squadrons arriving with a flight of Eruseans to join our formation. It looked to be Sol Squadron. Count noted the company with a slight wrinkle of his nose, "We've got quite a few Eruseans with us today."

"I could say the same to you Oseans," Seymour, the pilot of Sol 3 retorted.

"Hey! Stow it. I don't care what country anyone is from today," I cut in, "What counts is knowing who the real enemy is, right?"

Long Caster now took his turn to speak up, "Affirmative! I think everyone knows what's at stake here today. All allied aircraft, you're approaching the airspace of the Lighthouse. Prepare to commence the attack."

"Roger that Long Caster," I answered, "Coalition fighters, fall in and throttle up."

"Roger that. Understood. All right. Wilco," came the calls of my Striders.

As we neared, we saw the two Raven drones code named Hugin and Munin still circling the Lighthouse. At our approach, the menacing black fighters turned on us with their red eyes and their sloped angled wings looking very much like flying demons straight from hell. As we neared the point of engagement, Long Caster gave us a little reminder, "Everyone, keep in mind the space elevator is able to broadcast over vast distances. With the communication networks still down, it's the only place capable of long range transmissions. Those drones are going to be waiting for it to power up again so take those drones down immediately."

"Clever little bastards," Count agreed while the voice of an Erusean flight leader spoke up.

"Skoll Squadron to Long Caster, tally two bandits. Here they come!"

From his station on the carrier, Long Caster touched his headset while Avril and Rosa came to join him and oversee the battle, "Acknowledged. All units converge and take down those drone fighters!"

The edges of our formation broke off to seal the airspace and flank the enemies while Jaeger throttled forward and armed a missile, "I'll go for a shot. Watch my wing Huxian?"

"Wilco Strider 3," she answered as she moved to cover her comrade.

Jaeger took the fist shot and we all watched as his missile streaked out toward the rapidly approaching Ravens. At the last moment, the drones broke formation and evaded the missile before hurtling forward in spinning rolls. The two Ravens screamed by and split our formation causing us all to break and evade them before they pulled incredibly tight turns and moved to counterattack.

"Damn! Those UAV's are fast! Stay sharp Trigger!" Tabloid shouted as he watched Hugin scream by before trying to track it with the Wyvern's targeting systems. I rolled the Wyvern into a tight high G turn and tried to get an angle but I pulled up immediately to evade a beam of red energy that Munin fired. Its sister drone fired its own laser beam and the two swept around trying to catch our fighters in a deadly crossfire as we split off to evade the attacks.

"Trigger! From the left! 10 o clock high! Break! Break!" Tabloid warned as he tried to fire our guns at Hugin as it zipped by at blinding speed. I gasped as I barely evaded the beam of Munin while it swept past and I gave a tense growl to my comrade.

"I saw him! No backseat driving, okay?"

To our horror, we watched as two allied fighters were caught in the Ravens' deadly laser beam crossfire and torn apart into fiery wreckage. The remnants of the incinerated planes rained down in a cloud of fire as Long Caster gave an alarmed exclamation, "Salamander 3 and Skoll 2 are down! Damn, that was quick! Everyone, those drones are equipped with high powered lasers. Watch their noses and stay clear!"

The other coalition fighters struggled to try and corral the two Ravens but weren't faring much better. Two more allies went down to the drones' fire, another Osean and an Erusean too. I heard Clown give an angry curse as one of his missiles was scattered by some chaff and flares released by the drone Munin. I watched in awe as the drones moved at blinding speed and ran circles around us. I did my best to try and keep up in order to get a firing angle all while keeping us out of theirs. Even with the superior speed and agility of the Wyvern in my hands, it was barely enough and I wondered how much tougher it must have been for everyone else. Tabloid gritted his teeth and cursed while trying to get a radar lock on one of the drones before it abruptly changed direction and dropped into a steep dive.

Wit, the pilot of Sol 2 watched in awe as he saw the enemy regroup, "Whoah… those things are flying just like Mihaly! I've never seen such maneuvers! Seymour, cover me. Let's try to split Hugin and Munin."

To their surprise, the drones blew by them and went after me, probably viewing me as the greater threat. They began to fire their sustained beams causing me to take the Wyvern into a steep rolling dive angled toward the Lighthouse, "Oh shit! Hang on Tabloid!"

My co-pilot gave an equally alarmed gasp as we wove and juked about in our dive toward the Lighthouse while the searing laser beams criss-crossed around us in tight arcs. I could feel the Wyvern rattle and the G-forces on my already bruised body as I gritted my teeth and focused on avoiding the lasers. From above, Count momentarily took charge of the other Striders and called out, "All right everyone, let's regroup while Trigger draws the enemy's fire!"

I roared between the lower support structures of the Lighthouse to shake off the drones before going into a steep climb. The drones split off and changed direction toward Wit who was caught looking. Huxian was already shouting a warning to Sol Squadron's new leader, "Sol 2, evade! Evade!"

"Perfect movements, just like Mihaly's…" Wit exclaimed in awed fear, not seeming to register the danger he was now in.

"Hey! Get your head in the game!" Count shouted as he moved to intercept and fired a barrage of pulse laser bolts. One of the shots struck a blow on Hugin and caused it to break off its attack, saving Wit in the process. To our surprise, Hugin disengaged a mechanism causing a smaller drone fighter to break off while its larger damaged shell with a smoking wing plummeted to the water below.

Huxian stared in disbelief, "Well that's something... look! It discarded its wings!"

"What the… it looks just like that drone from Bulgurdarest!" Tabloid pointed out as Munin and its smaller counterpart regrouped. Little Hugin fired a spray of gunfire at me and I took my Wyvern into a stall to evade it. When I did, the drone caught another ally off guard and shot down a Usean F-16.

I moved in and began to play tag with the smaller drone as Munin circled from above, pausing from the battle for several long moments. Those moments were not lost on Jaeger as he voiced his own concern.

"Hold on a minute… is it just me, or is that thing trying to read Trigger's reactions?"

"It's observing Strider 1," Seymour confirmed, "Maybe trying to learn from him?"

Huxian growled in frustration, "If they learn to fly like Trigger too, we're toast. Who's going to be able to shoot that thing down?"

Before she could say anything else, Munin bore down on me firing its beam cannon and trying to slice off my tail. I watched the angle of the beam shifting and decided to do something unexpected. I made a quick cut and faked the direction of which way I was breaking. The trailing beam went wide and accidentally clipped Little Hugin instead causing the small drone to explode in a streak of fire. I could hear Tabloid give a yell before I made another countermaneuver, hitting the air brakes and rolling narrowly over Munin as it overshot me. "Now! Fire everything!"

Tabloid locked up the enemy bandit and let loose a missile while I pulled the trigger and fired a barrage of laser bolts into the Raven. The drone was pounded by our fire and struck by the missile sending the streaking fireball directly into the ocean below. As I leveled off, I couldn't help but give an adrenaline fueled cheer while pumping my fist ecstatically. "Yes! Direct hit!"

"Oh hell yeah! You got em, Trigger!" Count laughed in joyful agreement.

"Way to shoot ace," Lanza followed up amid some other cheers of the coalition fighters.

From the tower of the aircraft carrier Admiral Andersen, several other officers who were present gave a cheer while Avril and Rosa shared a hug. Long Caster sighed and sat back in his chair, "The UAV is down! Enemy signal has been confirmed as lost. It's finally over."

"That was definitely the most intense dogfight I've ever been in. Can't wait to tell my son about it," Jaeger grinned.

Long Caster glanced back to his monitors, "The space elevator is just starting to power up again. Looks like we made it just in the nick of time. If that drone transmission and its data got out, who knows what would've happened? I've got a special bottle of Emmerian wine for occasions like this. What do you say we crack it open when you get back?"

Just then, our blood ran cold as we heard the screeching sound of robotic static filling our airwaves. Rosa frowned and looked over Long Caster's shoulder to the monitor where a red hostile blip reemerged. "Can you hear me? There's still one drone left!

Tabloid looked around in shock, "What? How can that be? The skies are clear!"

"I don't know, but look!" Rosa insisted before we saw a plume of water erupt from down below and a high speed object took to the air.

"Another UAV just emerged from the waters!" Avril warned us as she clung to Long Caster's other sleeve, "Munin must have thrown away its wings too!"

"Can anyone hear me? That drone needs to be taken care of!" Rosa cried in fearful desperation.

Long Caster brushed the girls aside and took back his monitor, "She's right. I'm picking up a revived drone signal on the radar. That thing is still alive and kicking!"

We watched in horror as the drone disengaged from the battlefield and sped away toward the near coastline of Selapatura. As we followed it, we saw the drone angle in and begin to descend at a certain marked point near the water's edge. Lanza shook his head in confusion, "Just where the hell is the UAV going?"

"My guess? It looks like it's headed for the undersea tunnel!" Tabloid answered in dread, "That tunnel leads directly to the space elevator! That's where it can download its data and broadcast its signal!"

I angled my Wyvern into a banking turn and descended toward the entrance toward the undersea tunnel as well. "All right. I'm on it! I'm going after the UAV!"

"What? Are you insane?" I heard Knocker snap over his own comm, "That's a suicide mission! You'll be lucky to even find a viable escape vector!"

Clown chimed in with my other old mentor, "He's right Trigger. Stop and think about this."

"We don't have time to think about this!" I insisted stubbornly with a heated tone, "I've made up my mind already. Tabloid?"

My co-pilot was silent for a moment before nodding his head. He understood the score just as well as any of us, "I understand. I'm with you Trigger."

As I headed for the tunnel, Count broke formation too and moved to join me. Jaeger called out sharply, "Count? Where are you going?"

"Where do you think, Pops?" he replied impatiently, "I'm going with Trigger. He's going to need my help!"

Huxian gave a startled gasp and sputtered in alarm, "Hell no! You can't be serious Count!"

"Yeah... well, you had no problem with Trigger volunteering just now."

"You damn fool! That's different and you know it!" she insisted, "If you're trying to impress me again, you're doing a piss poor job of it!"

I sighed as I neared the tunnel entrance, "Count, she's right. I'm giving you an order. Turn back now!"

"With respect Captain Richter, you can take your order and shove it up your ass. I'm not going to let my two best friends go it alone," he answered flatly.

Tabloid fell silent and looked to me incredulously, "Trigger?"

I gave a slow nod while breaking into a small smile, "Stay close Strider 2. I don't want you falling behind."

Count grinned and fell in behind me, "Wilco. And don't worry Tabloid. You said it yourself. Stick with Trigger and we'll make it, right?"

With that, I folded the Wyvern's wings and we roared into the narrow tunnel entrance. The lights of the undersea tunnel sped by in a blur as I focused on the curves of the tunnel while Tabloid tried to lock on to the drone's signal. I knew Count was flying somewhere close behind but I kept my eyes on the gentle bends of the tunnel. There was not a lot of room to maneuver and if our wings clipped the concrete walls of the tunnel, we'd be done for. I'm sure Clown and Knocker would be proud as I tried to go back to the fundamental lessons we learned in flight school. Just keep your hands steady and thread the needle.

Long Caster came in over the comms but his voice was a little distorted, "Strider 1, what's your status?"

"I don't know... alive?" I quipped trying to break some of the tension of the situation.

From the carrier, Rosa and Avril held each other's hands in worry and exchanged a look while Long Caster shook his head in mild exasperation, "Very funny. So you're both okay?"

"Whoah, whoah, whoah, now you're just being optimistic here," Count added. He must have also been feeling like a smart ass too.

Long Caster sighed, "Work with me here guys. The radio's going to cut out soon. We don't have a lot of time left."

"Sit tight Long Caster. We'll get this job done soon so just keep your eyes peeled for us when we get out," I said before our communications with the carrier cut out completely.

We continued to speed through the cavernous tubes until we hit a three way juncture and I gasped as two of the gates began to lower and slam shut. Count and I blew by before the last one sealed behind us. Tabloid seemed more concerned with what was in front of us as he tracked the general direction of the enemy's signal, "There it is! I saw the UAV for a second and I heard some static when the gates closed. Do you think it's already messing with the door controls?"

"Well whatever it did, it just sealed our only way out," Count pointed out darkly.

I grimaced and tried to keep a level tone of voice, "Okay... happy thoughts guys. I'm sure we'll eventually figure something out."

We cruised down a straightaway tube before we hit another three way juncture, only this time the drone was waiting for us. Little Munin buzzed by firing a spray of bullets at us and causing us to panic in the small cramped confines of the tunnel. The drone took off down another open tunnel and we continued to pursue once we recovered our bearings.

"There it is again! Damn it! I'm hit!" Count cried in anger and alarm as he realized his Raptor had been damaged in the ambush.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"My wings are okay... but I'm losing thrust. I think its my engines that took some damage," Count answered shakily.

Tabloid turned his head to try and look behind us, "Count? Talk to me here, buddy."

"I can still fly. I'll be okay for now… I think," Count muttered in dread, "Hooboy, this will be a problem."

As we sped through one more bend in the tunnel system, it opened up to a large cavernous structure underneath the space elevator and comprising its foundations and generators. We sped out into the open from the tunnels and the radar locked on to the drone of Little Munin.

"There it is! The drone is going to deliver its payload!" Tabloid called in alarm, "Let's shoot it down!"

The drone sped up and made a few evasive cuts, trying to weave around us but in these cramped quarters, we had the advantage against it. From the flanks, Count fired a spray of laser bolts to keep the renegade drone boxed in before I could line up the killshot. I armed a pair of QAAMs and let them loose, "Strider 1, Fox 2!"

The pair of agile missiles streaked forward and tracked their target before tagging it just in time. As the drone went for a central computer processing unit at the base of the space elevator, the missiles blew it aside and completely demolished the killer machine, reducing it to a flaming husk of mangled steel.

"Target splashed! Nice shot!" Tabloid sighed in relief.

No sooner had we foiled the drone and circled around the center of the cavern, Count radioed me, "Hey, serious talk Trigger. I was just looking around here and I think I've just found a way for us to get home."

"All right. I'm listening, Count."

Strider 2 looked upward and pointed, "I say we use the space elevator."

"What?" Tabloid exclaimed.

"Yeah, the windbreak is hollow and there's no ceiling all the way up. It's just one more tunnel, but worth the risk. I'm not sure if my bird can handle it though, but you can."

I felt a sick feeling in my stomach as I furiously wracked my brain for any other ideas, "We'll think of something else. I'm not going to leave you here!"

Count shook his head and spoke resolutely, "No Trigger! Fly! I know you can make it! I'll attempt a belly landing here."

"Are you out of your damn mind?" Tabloid exclaimed but Count cut him off from any further protest.

"This isn't the time to argue! Get out of here! Everyone's waiting for you! Avril. Rosa. Everyone."

We circled around one more time and I spotted the hollowed entrance to the tower windbreak leading skyward. I gave my other friend a thumbs up before taking off up the vertical shaft, "Good luck Count."

I pushed the Wyern's engines and began to accelerate. I hoped I could maintain control and continue getting enough thrust so that I wouldn't stall out. So much for my promise to Avril. The Wyvern thundered up the hollow windbreak like a rocket, or rather like a bullet down a gun barrel. I turned the stick slightly to dodge an elevator car along the sides before pushing the throttle lever all the way. Tabloid and I gritted our teeth and continued to fight gravity in our steep vertical climb while I could hear Count muttering down below.

"I wanted to wait till I had less fuel but it looks like I've got no choice... attempting to land. I don't think I'm going to make it, but here goes nothing."

His signal cut out for a few moments as the Wyvern trembled and reached the upper levels of the Lighthouse super structure. I punched the afterburners and felt a jolt before we accelerated higher and faster. As we passed the edge of the enclosed structure and cleared it, I could see the guidance cables continue stretching on into the vast heavens as the open skies took on a slightly different hue. We still had some ways to go before we'd even reach the stratosphere, but we could see the distant edges of it and a few stars above. That was when I heard some familiar voices again on the comm.

"Look! It's Trigger!" Long Caster exclaimed in joy, "Strider 1 has returned to radar!"

Down below, I could almost swear I heard Clown and Knocker starting to laugh in giddy euphoria, "That's our Trigger! He's a damn hero!"

Before anyone else could speak, Huxian butted in with a concerned tone and demanded, "Where's Strider 2? Damn it! Does anyone have eyes on Count?"

"Wish you all could have seen my amazing landing," Count's voice answered in a slightly distorted tone several seconds later.

Huxian gave a euphoric laugh as she took her Raptor around for a pass on the Lighthouse, "Eugene! You damn fool! What's your position?"

"Watching Trigger climb," he sighed with his own smile, "I guess it's just my fate to watch him from down below."

"Yeah… I guess that goes for us too," Huxian answered as she looked up toward the skies above. As we continued to soar, I simply reached behind me in silence and let Tabloid stretch to give me a fist bump in reply.

On the carrier amid the cheers of the Osean crewmen, Avril took the comm speaker from Long Caster, "Count, we'll send you some help! What are your coordinates?"

He laughed, "Directly under the space elevator. Elevation is minus 500 meters."

Avril stopped and blinked in confusion, "Minus? I... you know what? I'm not even going to ask."

She paused a moment before speaking again, "Hey Trigger, you dumbass. Tell me something? What color is the sky up there?"

I continued to stare ahead of me, looking out at the vast heavens stretching out above me, clear, peaceful, and filled with serene beauty. I smiled quietly as I kept my eyes on the endless empyrean above. "It's the color of our flag… of our beautiful home. It's blue… a deep dark blue."

Avril beamed as she lowered the comm transmitter and handed it to Rosa beside her. The younger woman gave a nod to Long Caster and sent out a new radio transmission, one that was directed to any and all who could be reached by the Lighthouse. She looked to the skies outside the ship with a smile and spoke in a way she had not been able to do in quite some time. She spoke with confidence, purpose and strength behind this new message which she wanted the entire world to hear.

"This is Princess Rosa Cossette D'Elise of the Kingdom of Erusea. The war is finally over. The ocean of stars in our galaxy is finally within our reach once again. To the pilots who generously gave their lives to restore order and bring us this lasting peace, we are forever grateful. The universe lies ahead of us waiting to be discovered. And now at last, as people with a united purpose we'll have our gateway to ascend to it… over and over again. But most importantly, I want to salute the one pilot who helped make this all possible... the pilot who gave us all a future. Captain Thomas Richter of Osea… thank you."

She was drowned out by a chorus of cheers and I felt my heart soar before I pulled away from my climb and cleared the guidance cables of space elevator. Tabloid and I gave a triumphant cheer as we did a rolling dive back toward the earth like a freewheeling bird in the open skies. When we descended from the heavens and leveled off, we could see the blue skies lit up by the bright morning sun while all the remaining fighters of Strider Squadron and the coalition came to join us. As they all gathered into a new formation behind us, Tabloid and I took a moment to admire this beautiful sight of unity and triumph between these people of many nations. We began to cruise over the rolling blue waters and Tabloid flipped his visor up. He leaned back in his seat noticing that I had become strangely quiet, "Hey Trigger... you okay? What are you thinking about right now?"

I sat quietly for a long moment before I took the controls and steered our Wyvern back towards the Admiral Andersen. I simply gave a warm quiet smile and looked out toward the bright hopeful horizon that stretched out before us, "I was thinking we've been away too long... from our friends, from our families, and from the people we love. It's time to put this war behind us. It's time to go home."

* * *

**To be concluded in the next chapter. Sit tight!**


	15. A Brand New Day

_**Vincent Harling Memorial Park, Selatapura City**_  
_**March 1, 2020**_

It had been a few months since the conclusion of the Lighthouse War which had ravaged the Usean continent and spread chaos around the world. Now that the conflict was over, there was time to begin rebuilding what was destroyed and find healing for those who had lost friends and loved ones. To be honest, those four months passed in a blur for me as my friends and I had been shipped back to Oured to recount our harrowing experience. By all accounts, we were national heroes for ending the war and stopping what would have amounted to a killer drone apocalypse. Between the endless reports and debriefings, the countless interviews, and the medals and praise lauded on us, my mind still drifted back to Usea where there was so much left undone. After a brief visit home to see my own family, I asked to be reassigned back to Usea and be stationed in Selapatura with Count, Tabloid, Avril, and Huxian. We wanted to help volunteer our aid in the relief efforts for the thousands of Usean refugees and victims of the war there. When we weren't doing that, I hoped I could help train the new young Osean pilots who would be tasked with safeguarding the new peace. The OADF was all too happy to oblige my request so I didn't waste any time before returning to the Usean city as soon as possible. There was still something I needed to do there and someone I wanted to see. Avril offered to help arrange a reunion banquet later in the day and I was all too happy to let her sort out that minor detail for me.

On that particular day, I went with my friends to a small park which had recently been created by the people of Selatapura to honor the memory of the late Osean president, Vincent Harling. The small park had a nice view overlooking the ocean and the Lighthouse where he had lost his life during that tragic mission but it seemed his spirit was still here along the peaceful waters of Gunther Bay with the mighty space elevator now reaching to infinity. Despite it being the start of March, the weather was warm and mild with clear skies and lots of sunlight. As I made my way through the park, I made sure I looked presentable in my civilian clothes which I hadn't worn in some time. For the time being, I had traded in my military uniform for a pair of dark jeans, a white collared shirt and a casual navy blue blazer. My companions had also cleaned up and dressed well for the occasion. Tabloid and Avril walked hand in hand wearing some khakis and spring shirts colored in pastel green and orange respectively. Even more surprising to see was the tomboyish Huxian now wearing a feminine yellow skirt and jean jacket while being accompanied by a dressier looking Count. I couldn't tell if it was due to Lin's influence or not, but Count had finally done away with his scruffy whiskers and his mop of hair, now looking much more clean cut.

We finally stopped in front of a memorial marker where a statue of President Harling stood with his patrician features and his steadfast bearing. Huxian offered me the bundle of flowers I had purchased and I gave my friends a nod, "Just give me a few minutes everyone? I promise I won't be long."

They stood back and remained at a distance as I walked forward and stopped in front of the statue. I stood at attention for a moment and saluted before respectfully laying the flowers down at the base of the statue. "Mr. President? I don't know if you remember me or not, but I thought I should come and see you today. I wanted to pay my respects and tell you how much I admired you... and to say that I'm sorry for everything. I know now that it wasn't my fault that you died, but I still think it should be said anyway. I haven't prepared a formal report or anything, but I still think it's important you hear it from me."

I glanced out toward the sunlit waters of the ocean, "The refugees from the war are still being taken care of and Selatapura has become one such safe haven for them. I think you'll be glad to know that it's helped to bring the whole world together on that issue. A humanitarian mission from Yuktobania air dropped some supplies for them again today and thanks to Princess Rosa, the rest of the world has begun pitching in to help too. I know Avril and Tabloid are really looking forward to volunteering here and handing out supplies. I think that'll be a perfect job for them.

I heard Mihaly's granddaughters are helping in the rebuilding efforts too. They've returned to their homeland in Shilage and secured freedom for their people. Not only that, I know Ionela has come into her own and is encouraging their other neighbors to assist in the reconstruction. Mihaly… I wonder if that cranky old geezer is up there right now dancing with the angels. You wouldn't happen to know, would you Mr. President?"

Harling's statue remained silent and I couldn't help but chuckle to myself quietly, "I guess I'll take that as a no."

I cleared my throat, "For his part in all this and the building of those drones, Dr. Schroeder has surrendered himself to the authorities and agreed to accept any sort of punishment they deem fit. I think he feels guilty enough already and that it might even take down Grunder Industries with him. As for Princess Rosa? Well, she's looking to the stars… to the heavens and beyond. And speaking of the heavens, don't worry. I'll still be flying to keep an eye on things here. And who knows... maybe one day I'll see you up there."

I smiled and gave another respectful salute before heading away from the statue to meet with my friends. As I rejoined them, Avril put her phone away in her purse and gave me a smile, "The Shilage girls say they'll meet us at the restaurant. They just flew in this morning and aren't fully settled in yet."

"I've gotta say, I'm really looking forward to seeing Long Caster again and finally trying out this Italian restaurant he found for all of us," Tabloid grinned eagerly.

"I just hope there's going to be food left by the time we get there. You've seen that guy eat, right?" Count quipped earning himself a slap in the arm from Huxian.

"Eugene! Be nice!" she scolded him gently.

I laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, "I'm sure it'll be fine Count. Now let's get going. There's one more important person we need to pick up along the way."

* * *

**_[International Space Elevator, Oceanfront Gardens]_**

After the Lighthouse War, the grounds around the space elevator had been renovated and restored. Where once it had been a terrible battleground, work was now being done to turn it into a beautiful tourist center and garden. Several sections of the lawn had been restored as flowerbeds and hedges were planted as well to offer a balance between nature and technology. Although the work was half done, it had already become a popular place for locals to come for a stroll or go picnicking. When we arrived via the overland bridge, I made my way across the grounds and took a moment to look around. It was strange seeing the Lighthouse in a completely new light. Not only had it begun to change in its purpose, but I was now seeing it from the ground up during peace time. It was hard to imagine that only several months ago, my friends and I had fought several harrowing air battles here against killer drones and warmongering Eruseans. I hoped those days were now behind us as there was one Erusean in particular that I came to meet here.

I caught sight of that young woman with golden hair in a crown braid, looking just as beautiful as the day I left her to go back home to Oured. I approached quietly and saw Princess Rosa standing by herself. She was dressed back down to some plain civilian clothes, a pair of khaki capris and a dressy white blouse. The princess had her back turned to me and she was preoccupied with looking up toward the space elevator which towered above us. She slowly reached up her hand toward the clear sunlit sky, almost as if she were trying to speak to someone. A warm gentle breeze blew across the grass as she fixed her eyes toward the blue heavens as if in prayer and quietly intoned, "Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you... loud and clear," I answered quietly as I stepped forward.

Rosa turned in surprise and broke out into a bright smile as she rushed over to greet me. The princess threw her arms around my neck and spun us around as she gave me a hug that almost knocked me down. She gave a joyful laugh, "Oh Tom! You're finally here! I've missed you!"

I set her back down and we forgot ourselves for a moment as we exchanged an eager kiss. After a moment, she suddenly pulled back from our embrace and cleared her throat. I blinked in confusion as she tried to smooth out her blouse and retain her royal composure, all while fighting a rising blush in her cheeks.

"Uh, Cossette? Is everything okay?"

"Sorry, I umm... forgot there are some people watching now," she said discretely pointing over toward a nearby park bench where two men in suits and sunglasses sat reading newspapers. No doubt they were royal bodyguards who were trying to pretend they didn't just see that. Laying down beside them on the grass was Rosa's dog Prince, lazily enjoying the warm sunlight in peace.

"Ah, that's okay. They're not the only ones being nosy," I grinned gesturing over to the near distance where my other friends were now waiting. Huxian and Avril both gave waves along with playful smiles while Tabloid and Count seemed to be laughing between themselves about something. I was almost certain they were making fun of me right now, but I didn't really care. "I hope you don't mind taking some time off to have a little reunion party today?"

Rosa shook her head, "No, of course not. We certainly have a lot to catch up on... though, it's hard when I still keep thinking to myself just how much work is left to be done here like caring for the victims of the war, organizing more relief efforts for Usean refugees, and meeting with government officials..."

I gave her a reassuring smile and looked in her eyes, "A world of darkness needs a light to shine so you shouldn't worry. We're here now and we'll all be willing to help that new beacon of light."

Rosa took my hand and gave it a grateful squeeze, "Thank you Tom. I know our own countries will still have a lot of things to sort out too."

At that moment, I heard some music coming from a portable radio that an older woman was listening to as she picnicked on the lawn nearby. It sounded like that song I heard Rosa sing once before, the Erusean song she had called Pensees.

I laughed gently as I continued to hold her hand, "Well there's no reason we can't show that Oseans and Eruseans can get along with each other. It takes two to tango, right?"

"Tom? What are you saying?" she asked curiously.

"I'm asking if you'd care to dance with me right now Princess Rosa," I offered as I gallantly gestured toward the sound of the familiar song in the air.

She gave a gentle laugh and nodded, "I'd be honored Captain Richter."

I held her close and we exchanged another smile before we began to step in time to the stately melody. I knew my friends were waiting, but they could wait a few minutes more. As Princess Rosa and I continued our dance on the lawn swaying to the nostalgic strains of the romantic folk song, I took a moment to glance toward the bright blue heavens above us. The skies were calm and tranquil and I hoped that in time, the people of our world would know the same kind of peace. It was up to us now to live up to this promise of a better future. But I knew that as long as I had Rosa and the rest of my friends beside me, we'd be able to face the challenges of the future which lay beyond that open horizon... beyond the stars above and to Skies Unknown.

**_Fin_**

* * *

***Roll the credits and follow up Pensees with a reprise of Faceless Soldier***

**First off, I just want to say a huge thank you to anyone and everyone who took the time to read this entire series. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, to all my loyal wingmen who favorited and followed, and to all the other nuggets out there who were silently reading along too. **

**I really do appreciate all of your thoughtful comments, jokes, suggestions, and criticisms along the way and I hope it helped to make this an even better version of AC7's canon story. I wanted to give a salute to the franchise and the fans and I like to think of this as having been a collaborative effort. While I enjoyed the game, I did think it could have been better. I wanted to write this series to tie all the major characters and events together in a much more coherent narrative and to develop them to a greater degree. It's my hope this series succeeded in doing that.**

**Again, I hope that you all enjoyed this trilogy and that it helps to encourage and inspire other fanfic writers out there. For one, I'd like to give a big shout out to the fic presently running called Three Strikes by Monty Marten. If any of you are interested in reading a version of the AC7 story with a female Trigger and some other old faces too, I'd definitely give it my personal recommendation.**

**It's been a privilege flying with you all so take care, God bless, and I'll be sure to see you all in the skies. *salute***


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